Firm calls report of possible sale to Musk ‘pure fiction’

TikTok has called a report that China is considering allowing a sale of the social media company’s US operations to Elon Musk “pure fiction”.

The firm’s comments came in response to a Bloomberg report that Chinese officials are weighing an option that could see its American business sold to the world’s richest person if the US Supreme Court upholds a prohibition of the app.

Supreme Court justices are expected to rule on a law that sets a deadline of January 19 for TikTok to sell its American operations or face a ban in the country.

TikTok has repeatedly said it will not sell its US operation.

“We can’t be expected to comment on pure fiction,” a TikTok spokesperson told BBC News.

Bloomberg said, citing people familiar with the matter, that one possible scenario being considered by Chinese officials would see Musk’s social networking platform X take control of TikTok’s operations in the United States.

Musk is a close ally of the president-elect of the United States Donald Trump, who will return to the White House on January 20.

Last month, Trump urged the Supreme Court to delay his decision until he is in office to allow him to seek a “political solution”.

His lawyer 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.”

It came a week after Trump met TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

On Monday, two Democratic lawmakers, Senator Edward Markey and Representative Ro Khanna, also asked Congress and President Joe Biden to extend the January 19 deadline.

During a Supreme Court hearing last week, the judges appeared inclined to maintain the legislation and keep the deadline.

During almost three hours of arguments, the new judges returned again and again to the national security concerns that gave rise to the law.

The Biden administration has argued that without a sale, TikTok could be used by China as a tool for spying and political manipulation.

The company has repeatedly denied any influence from the Chinese Communist Party and said the law to ban it in the United States violates its users’ First Amendment free speech rights.