Elon Musk’s potential purchase of TikTok’s US operations is said to be under consideration among Chinese officials facing a ban in the US. Even though Beijing would like TikTok to continue being owned by ByteDance Ltd., the situation has called for plan B conversations.
TikTok will have 90 days from January 19th to sell the organization or face its removal from app stores and servers across the United States. As the US government identifies increasing national security concerns, it remains uncertain whether the platform will continue functioning in the American Market.
US Supreme Court leans toward upholding TikTok ban
The United States Supreme Court has symptoms that it may enforce the pending TikTok ban. TikTok requested the court for legal protection and to prevent it from being banned, claiming that doing so would violate the rights to freedom of speech and expression of its 170 million users in America. However, during oral arguments on January 10, most justices opined that defending the country’s security trumps the platform’s claims.
Thus, the legal actions proposed by TikTok also seem ineffective, which implies that the company’s future operations are more likely to involve the sale of the American division. This could imply an unprecedented interruption for the platform, which had become a major instrument for content generation and social media participation nationwide.
Beijing explores Elon Musk as a potential buyer
With the threat of a US ban looming, new sources suggest that Beijing is eyeing Tesla’s Elon Musk to take over TikTok’s US operations. Chinese officials have suggested combining TikTok with Musk’s platform X. However, there has been no statement or hint about any agreements or negotiations from Musk, ByteDance, or China’s authorities.
If TikTok’s US operations, estimated to be worth between $40bn and $50bn, were to be sold, Musk would struggle to secure the funding for the acquisition. It also assessed that the billionaire is still paying old loans from the preceding acquisition of what is now known as X.
Sale faces regulatory and legal complexities
The Chinese government controls any potential sale of TikTok’s US business appliance. ByteDance has said that Beijing only influences Douyin, TikTok’s sister application; however, China’s export control laws bar the sharing of software algorithms with third parties outside the country. These regulations make a potential transaction even more complicated.
Whoever buys TikTok is now incorporated, and the deal will arguably require Beijing’s and the US’s approval. The ongoing situation indicates an increasing conflict in global data protectionism and the place of foreign-dominated technology firms in the American market.