TikTok responds to reports it may be sold to Elon Musk, calling them 'complete bullshit'

TikTok has denied reports that it is considering selling itself to Elon Musk, according to Bloomberg, citing sources familiar with the matter.

Elon Musk Buying TikTok? Report Says China Exploring App Sale to Mogul
https://variety.com/2025/digital/news/tiktok-elon-musk-sale-china-pure-fiction-1236273557/

With the enactment of the 'Protecting Americans from Applications Controlled by Foreign Adversaries Act' in the United States, TikTok is being forced to choose between shutting down its service in the United States or selling its TikTok business in the United States to another company. The deadline for this decision is January 19, 2025.

What will happen when TikTok's deadline 'January 19, 2025' arrives? - GIGAZINE

Regarding this controversy, Bloomberg reported, citing a source, that 'Chinese authorities want a scenario in which X (formerly Twitter), owned by Musk, would acquire management rights to TikTok in the United States and the two companies would operate the business together.'

Regarding this proposal, Bloomberg pointed out that 'if Musk owned both X and TikTok, it could help X attract advertisers, and Musk's AI company xAI could profit from the vast amount of data that TikTok handles.' However, since this proposal is still in the preliminary discussion stage and is also a plan proposed by Chinese authorities, it is unclear whether ByteDance is aware of it or whether Musk is involved in it.

It turns out that Chinese authorities are considering selling TikTok to Elon Musk - GIGAZINE

However, when Variety reached out to TikTok for comment, a spokesperson denied the report, saying, 'You can't expect us to comment on complete nonsense.' Musk has not commented on the report.

TikTok CEO Shou Zhu has previously argued that a sale of the business would be 'virtually impossible, as it would mean handing over millions of lines of code owned by ByteDance to someone else,' and parent company ByteDance has pointed out that 'if we were to try to sell our shares in TikTok, we would likely be blocked because it would be considered a technology export.' It is reported that several companies have expressed interest in acquiring TikTok, but based on TikTok's intentions, a sale is unlikely.

Former Dodgers owner Frank McCourt's 'Project Liberty' officially files for bid to acquire TikTok - GIGAZINE

TikTok has filed a lawsuit claiming that the ban is unconstitutional, and President-elect Donald Trump has asked the Supreme Court to postpone the implementation of the law. TikTok has also encouraged users to switch to a similar app called 'Lemon8,' which was released in 2020, in preparation for the service being suspended, but since Lemon8 is also under the umbrella of China's ByteDance, some believe it will eventually be banned.

TikTok encourages users to escape to 'Lemon8' ahead of TikTok ban law enforcement - GIGAZINE