TikTok has described a report that it may sell its threatened US business to Elon Musk as “pure fantasy”.
The Chinese owners of short video platform ByteDance face the possibility of this happening Tik Tok It will close permanently in America on Sunday.
That’s when A US government banFor reasons of national security, it is scheduled to enter into force.
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But Bloomberg News reported that officials in Beijing, where TikTok’s parent company is based, are considering whether to allow a potential sale of TikTok. Billionaire owner XIf it is not possible to cancel or delay the order.
Authorities in China were said to prefer that TikTok’s US business remain under ByteDance’s control.
They have always denied having influence over ByteDance, let alone TikTok, a position that both entities have supported, and have consistently denied any suggestion of collusion that would pose any kind of threat to US interests.
The US Supreme Court has indicated it is considering accepting the Biden administration’s ban on the grounds that national security concerns outweigh the rights of TikTok’s 170 million American users to free expression.
It is not clear when the final ruling will be issued, but the ban is scheduled to take effect on Sunday, the day before Donald Trump’s inauguration.
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Before the start of his second term in the White House, he called on the court to postpone the deadline to allow a “political solution” to be reached.
Such a move would not prevent Musk, a political ally, from acquiring TikTok if the impasse cannot be broken.
“We cannot be expected to comment on pure fiction,” a TikTok spokesperson said in response to the report of the conversations.
Other potential buyers are said to include Trump’s former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and billionaire businessman Frank McCourt.