Word of a new deal suggested the world’s richest man could gain another social media foothold as Chinese officials sought a path forward ahead of their looming deadline.
Considered by many to be an integral moment in President-elect Donald Trump’s return path to the White House, Elon Musk’s free speech absolutism led him to acquire a controlling share of Twitter in 2022. Now, as the platform rebranded as X dominates as a virtual town square pushing back on narratives and propaganda, a Bloomberg report suggests China is looking to the tech entrepreneur should the TikTok ban go into effect.
Bloomberg detailed Tuesday, “Chinese officials are evaluating a potential option that involves Elon Musk acquiring the US operations of TikTok if the company fails to fend off a controversial ban on the short-video app, according to people familiar with the matter.”
The Supreme Court heard arguments in the case of TikTok v. Garland on Friday where the justices signaled a likelihood to uphold the law that included a divestiture-or-ban provision.
While Beijing was understood to prefer maintaining the status quo wherein the Chinese Communist Party-linked parent company ByteDance held onto its control of the platform, Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Damian Reimertz and Mandeep Singh estimated the U.S. operations of the app to be valued between $40 billion and $50 billion making a sale a far better option than letting TikTok potentially go dark on Jan. 19.
At the time legislation was being considered in April 2024, Musk took to X to state, “In my opinion, TikTok should not be banned in the USA, even though such a ban may benefit the X platform. Doing so would be contrary to freedom of speech and expression. It is not what America stands for.”
In my opinion, TikTok should not be banned in the USA, even though such a ban may benefit the platform.
Doing so would be contrary to freedom of speech and expression. It is not what America stands for.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 19, 2024
Trump himself had sought a delay on the ban that would go into effect a day before his inauguration, so his administration might have the opportunity to negotiate a resolution to uphold the First Amendment rights of users while addressing national security issues.
“[T]he First Amendment implications of the federal government’s effective shuttering of a social media platform used by 170 million Americans are sweeping and troubling,” the president-elect’s legal team argued in a friend-of-the-court brief. “There are valid concerns that the Act may set a dangerous global precedent by exercising the extraordinary power to shut down an entire social-media platform based, in large part, on concerns about disfavored speech on that platform.”
For their part, the Chinese government referred to attempts to ban TikTok as “economic bullying” and “plundering.”
In one scenario laid out by Bloomberg, Musk’s rebranded social media platform X would also control TikTok in the United States, much to the benefit of the tech entrepreneur in the pursuit of more data for artificial intelligence development and in garnering advertising dollars.
Among those who voiced interest in acquiring the platform, Kevin O’Leary of “Shark Tank” and billionaire Frank McCourt were said to be potential bidders on TikTok through the Project Liberty venture.
“I love capitalism and I want to support Americanizing TikTok. I want to make TikTok wonderful again,” O’Leary said during an appearance on the Fox Business Network. “That’s exactly what’s going to happen if I do this deal.”
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