Integrating Tiktok’s US operations into Musk’s messaging service X is mentioned in a Bloomberg article as one future option.
In China, the authorities have discussed the possibility of selling the operations of the video service Tiktok in the United States to a billionaire For Elon Musksays the news agency Bloomberg.
According to the authorities, a sale could be an option if Tiktok is unable to avoid the now-threatened ban in the United States. However, there is no information about the actual sales negotiations between the parties.
The Chinese government legally owns a 1 percent stake—the so-called golden stake—of Tiktok’s parent company Bytedance’s China operations, Douyin Information Service.
– This is a general arrangement for companies that operate on news and information service platforms in China. This arrangement only applies to services offered in the Chinese market and has no impact on Bytedance’s global operations outside of China, including Tiktok, which does not operate in mainland China, Tiktok says on its own on its pages.
According to Bloomberg, China would prefer Tiktok to be controlled by Bytedance, but its Tiktok US operations could be sold either through a competitive process or through a government arrangement. This suggests that the app’s future is no longer solely under the control of its parent company, Bytedance.
The integration of Tiktok’s US operations into Musk’s messaging service X is mentioned in the Bloomberg article as one future option.
– You can’t expect us to comment on pure fiction, Tiktok’s representative commented on the matter to the news agency Reuters.
Trump changed his mind about Tiktok
Last week, the US Supreme Court appeared inclined to uphold a law that would force Tiktok to be sold or banned in the US by January 19 over national security concerns from China.
The future president Donald Trump has changed his mind about banning Tiktok. New York Times reported at the end of December that Trump has appealed to the Supreme Court to give Tiktok more time. That way he could negotiate the deal after taking office on January 20.
Four years ago, Trump considered Tiktok a national security threat. Now he describes Tiktok as “a unique tool for freedom of expression.”
Trump has almost 15 million followers on Tiktok.
Sources: Reuters, AFP