TikTok has dismissed a Bloomberg report as “pure fiction. ” The report claims that Chinese officials are considering selling its U.S. operations to Elon Musk, owner of X and a close associate of Donald Trump. The report comes just five days before the January 19 deadline for selling or banning TikTok in the U.S. under a law passed with bipartisan support in April (details here).
It is worth mentioning that the app, which does not operate in China, is owned by an American company (TikTok LLC). However, this company is a subsidiary of the Chinese ByteDance, and according to the Bloomberg report, China prefers to keep TikTok’s ownership intact.
The Chinese app Rednote, a competitor to TikTok, reached #1 in the social networking category on the US App Store before the potential ban.
The Chinese government holds a “golden share” in ByteDance, giving it significant influence over the company’s decisions without requiring ownership of a majority of shares. This has sparked national security concerns in the U.S., particularly regarding China’s access to American citizens’ data and the potential for manipulation. TikTok has previously stated that the government’s involvement “does not impact ByteDance’s global operations outside of China, including TikTok.”
The case was brought before the Supreme Court on Friday, where arguments were presented on whether the platform’s ban violates the right to freedom of speech as guaranteed by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, with critics of the law claiming it infringes upon this right.
One of the TikTok ban critics is elected president Donald Trump, who had asked the Supreme Court in December to delay its decision until his inauguration on January 20 so he could pursue a “political solution.”
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