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TikTok has called a report that China is considering allowing the sale of the social media company’s US operations to Elon Musk “pure fiction.”
The company’s comments came in response to a Bloomberg report that Chinese officials are weighing an option that could see its U.S. business sold to the world’s richest person if the U.S. Supreme Court upholds the application ban.
Supreme Court justices must rule on a law that sets a Jan. 19 deadline for TikTok to sell its U.S. operations or face a ban in the country.
TikTok has repeatedly said it will not sell its US operation.
“We cannot be expected to comment on pure fiction,” a TikTok spokesperson told BBC News.
Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that one possible scenario being considered by Chinese officials would be for Musk’s social media platform X to take control of TikTok’s US operations.
Musk is a close ally of US President-elect Donald Trump, who will return to the White House on January 20.
Last month, Trump urged the Supreme Court to delay its decision until he takes office to allow him to seek a “political resolution.”
His attorney filed a legal brief with the court saying Trump “opposes banning TikTok” and “seeks the ability to resolve the issues at hand through political means once he takes office.”
This came a week after Trump met with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
The Biden administration has argued that without a sale, China could use TikTok as a tool of espionage and political manipulation.
The company has repeatedly denied any influence from the Chinese Communist Party and has said the law to ban it in the United States violates its users’ First Amendment free speech rights.
