• Following an unsuccessful last week, TikTok is all but certain to be banned from operating in the United States.
• There are, however, conflicting reports on whether TikTok is willing to sell.
• One report suggests Elon Musk as a potential buyer, while another rubbishes the claim.

By this time next week, we should know the fate of TikTok in the United States. This as arguments heard on 10th January did little to sway the Supreme Court justices of the opinion that TikTok represents a security threat to the US as a result of its owner ByteDance’s alleged ties with the Chinese government.

As such, the previously outlined 19th January deadline for TikTok US to divest its ownership in the region to a Stateside entity or face a ban, remains in place.

Something peculiar could still happen over the coming days, and recent reports would seemingly lean that way. To that end, conflicting reports have surfaced within the past few hours regarding who would buy TikTok US and indeed whether ByteDance would be willing to divest its holdings in order to keep access to the wildly popular app alive in the United States.

An odd potential buyer has surfaced in the form of Elon Musk. The X (formerly Twitter) owner and Donald Trump’s current right-hand man is one name being bandied about, per Bloomberg (paywall), with the publication noting that despite wanting to keep TikTok a Chinese platform, ByteDance is mulling a sale to Musk in order to curry favour with the incoming US President.

Whether such an acquisition could happen remains to be seen, as there would be several moving parts to consider, least of which being how much power in the social media space it would give Musk, as both X and TikTok would make for an highly influential and lucrative pair. That said, regulators may take umbrage with such a deal, especially given how it could be interpreted as anti-competitive for the market.

Adding weight to the counter arguments is a report from the BBC, which cites an unnamed TikTok spokesperson who says that, “We can’t be expected to comment on pure fiction”.

While that is not a firm no, it does bring into question why such a rumour would surface at this time. As mentioned, no one holds the ear of the incoming US President more than Elon Musk at the moment, so putting a speculative report into the ether may be an attempt to force Musk’s hand, which was the case when he purchased Twitter for far more than it was worth.

Either way, it looks like the TikTok US saga is far from over, despite the 19th January deadline being on the horizon. Whether ByteDance will launch a last ditch effort or the deadline gets pushed back further, remains to be seen.

As a ban looks all but certain, new apps are rising in popularity in order to potentially supplant TikTok. You can read about one of them in the post embedded below.

[Image – Photo by Solen Feyissa on Unsplash]