Will TikTok Survive?
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China Discusses Sale of TikTok US to Musk
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.
Beijing officials strongly prefer that TikTok remains under the ownership of parent ByteDance Ltd., the people say, and the company is contesting the impending ban with an appeal to the US Supreme Court. But the justices signaled during arguments on Jan. 10 that they are likely to uphold the law. Senior Chinese officials had already begun to debate contingency plans for TikTok as part of an expansive discussion on how to work with Donald Trump’s administration, one of which involves Musk, said the people, asking not to be identified revealing confidential discussions.
A potential high-profile deal with one of Trump’s closest allies holds some appeal for the Chinese government, which is expected to have some say over whether TikTok is ultimately sold, said the people. Musk spent more than $250 million supporting Trump’s re-election, and has been tapped for a prominent role in improving government efficiency after the Republican takes office.
Under one scenario that’s been discussed by the Chinese government, Musk’s X — the former Twitter — would take control of TikTok US and run the businesses together, the people said. With more than 170 million users in the US, TikTok could bolster X’s efforts to attract advertisers. Musk also founded a separate artificial intelligence company, xAI, that could benefit from the huge amounts of data generated from TikTok.
Chinese officials have yet to reach any firm consensus about how to proceed and their deliberations are still preliminary, the people said. It’s not clear how much ByteDance knows about the Chinese government discussions or whether TikTok and Musk have been involved. It’s also unclear whether Musk, TikTok and ByteDance have held any talks about the terms of any possible deal.
Musk and his representatives did not respond to a request for comment. Musk posted in April that he thinks TikTok should remain available in the US. “In my opinion, TikTok should not be banned in the USA, even though such a ban may benefit the X platform,” he wrote on X. “Doing so would be contrary to freedom of speech and expression. It is not what America stands for.”
ByteDance and TikTok representatives didn’t respond to messages seeking comment. The Cyberspace Administration of China and China’s Ministry of Commerce, government agencies that could be involved in decisions about TikTok’s future, also didn’t respond to requests for comment.
@George-K I dont see that happening. To me, the whole heart of Tik Tok is the algorigthm, and the mainland chinese have indicated that they will never sell that or give up control of that
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China: “This isn’t a business, it’s a Psy-op. It has no value to us if we can’t control what your young people think”
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Latest on Tik Tok...
A fair number of Tik Tok users (several hundred thousand to date) have established accounts on the Chinese version of Tik Tok - to say FU to the US.
Mark Cuban has offered to back a Tik Tok-ish app if it is based on BlueSky.
Senator Markey is supposedly introducing legislation to delay implementation of the ban - to provide additional time for negotiation.
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Latest on Tik Tok...
A fair number of Tik Tok users (several hundred thousand to date) have established accounts on the Chinese version of Tik Tok - to say FU to the US.
Mark Cuban has offered to back a Tik Tok-ish app if it is based on BlueSky.
Senator Markey is supposedly introducing legislation to delay implementation of the ban - to provide additional time for negotiation.
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I don’t think its Chinese version of TikTok I think it’s another app called Red Book (as in Mao’s little red book) but branded RedNote in English.
@jon-nyc said in Will Tik-Tok Survive?:
I don’t think its Chinese version of TikTok I think it’s another app called Red Book (as in Mao’s little red book) but called RedNote in English.
I believe that you are right. In China, Tik Tok is called Douyin.
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Latest on Tik Tok...
A fair number of Tik Tok users (several hundred thousand to date) have established accounts on the Chinese version of Tik Tok - to say FU to the US.
Mark Cuban has offered to back a Tik Tok-ish app if it is based on BlueSky.
Senator Markey is supposedly introducing legislation to delay implementation of the ban - to provide additional time for negotiation.
@kluurs said in Will Tik-Tok Survive?:
Senator Markey is supposedly introducing legislation to delay implementation of the ban - to provide additional time for negotiation.
He voted for the bill. Looks like he wants it both ways.
Only non-witches get due process.
- Cotton Mather, Salem Massachusetts, 1692
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Not yet confirmed, but one Tik Tok influencer has said that as a result of the millions of US IP addresses, the Chinese have moved all US based IP addresses to separate servers. This allegedly has resulted in many US Chinese to lose the ability to share with their Chinese relatives. This same influencer is saying that there have been some reports of security issues - a couple of people report their phones were hacked including passwords.
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@kluurs said in Will Tik-Tok Survive?:
Senator Markey is supposedly introducing legislation to delay implementation of the ban - to provide additional time for negotiation.
He voted for the bill. Looks like he wants it both ways.
@jon-nyc said in Will Tik-Tok Survive?:
@kluurs said in Will Tik-Tok Survive?:
Senator Markey is supposedly introducing legislation to delay implementation of the ban - to provide additional time for negotiation.
He voted for the bill. Looks like he wants it both ways.
He's not the only one. Trump urged it's banning before he didn't. There are a few members of congress on Tik Tok - who bounce which ever way seems most compelling.
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@jon-nyc Aye Yai Yai!
@Copper said in Will Tik-Tok Survive?:
I'm sure that cost a pretty penny.
And other valuable consideration.
Exactly. Glad to see that President Trump is willing to stand up to China (and other dictators.)
