According to one person in the Chinese government Bloomberg report
a sale of the threatened US business TikTok to tech billionaire Elon Musk (53) considered. The option was discussed in Beijing that Musk’s online platform X could take control of TikTok US and operate the services together, wrote the Bloomberg news agency, citing people familiar with the matter.
TikTok spokesperson Michael Hughes, however denied at the request of “The Verge”
: Nobody can “expect us to comment on pure fiction”.
The video app TikTok belongs to the group Byte Dance, which has its headquarters in China has. In the USA It is seen as a danger that the Chinese government could gain access to data from US users and organize influence campaigns on the platform.
That’s why ByteDance has to separate from TikTok according to a US law. The deadline of 270 days expires on January 19th. Without a sale, there is a risk of extinction in the USA on that day. TikTok denies the allegations and has so far refused to separate from ByteDance.
Supreme Court reserved
The dispute over the video platform had recently come to a head in the USA. TikTok went to the US Supreme Court in the hope of at least getting a reprieve. At a hearing, however, the judges appeared unconvinced by the argument that the law violated the freedom of speech enshrined in the US Constitution. Donald Trump (78), who will be sworn in as president on January 20, called on the judges to give him more time to reach a deal with TikTok. The app has more than 170 million users in the US.
TikTok always emphasizes that ByteDance is majority owned by international investors – but due to its headquarters in Beijing, the parent company also has to comply with the requirements of the authorities.
China is important for Tesla
Musk donated more than $250 million to Trump’s election campaign and is currently one of the US President-elect’s closest confidants. The Tesla-Boss is considered a businessman with very good relationships with the Chinese leadership, from whom he was repeatedly received at high levels during his visits to the People’s Republic.
China is one of the most important sales markets for Tesla. The group was also the first foreign car manufacturer to build a factory in Shanghai that belongs entirely to Tesla. Competitors, on the other hand, were always forced to set up joint ventures with Chinese partners. Some observers see the influence that Musk could exercise over Trump in the White House in the future as an advantage for China.