Elon Musk says there are no plans to acquire Tiktok in the US. The law passed last year requires Tiktok to sell to a US company or face a ban from the app store. Extended day.
Elon Musk says he has no intention of becoming Tiktok’s savior in the United States.
“I’ve not actually bid for Tiktok. I have no plans as to what to do if there is Tiktok,” Musk said during a virtual appearance at a recent business conference in Germany.
Former President Joe Biden signed a law last year requiring Tiktok’s Chinese owner, Baitedan, to sell from popular social media apps or face bans from US app stores. The US government is concerned about Tiktok’s Chinese ownership.
The Supreme Court upheld the law in January before President Donald Trump signed an executive order that would give him another 75 days to find buyers.
Several investors have expressed interest in buying Tiktok, including “Shark Tank” Mogul Kevin O’Leary and former Dodgers owner Frank McCourt. I’m also wondering if Musk, who bought Twitter in 2022 and rebranded X, will reach out.
Musk’s first public comment on the issue came from a video call on January 28th at Welt Economic Summit in Berlin, a gathering of politicians and CEOs hosted by Axel Springer. AxelSpringer is the parent company of Business Insider.
Musk told guests at the summit that he personally did not use Tiktok and “not munching a bit” to get the app.
He said the Twitter acquisition was a “rare” and “very rare” purchase. He said the acquisition was “difficult” and “very painful,” but he said he “buyed the company because he thought it was important to maintain American freedom of speech.”
“I usually build a company from scratch,” Musk added.
Tiktok’s lawyers argued in the Supreme Court that banning US apps violated users’ rights to free speech.
But Musk said he only looked at financial reasons to buy the app.
“I don’t know if the same logic applies to Tiktok,” he said, referring to why he bought Twitter. “I’m not getting things just for financial reasons, so it’s not clear what economics is the purpose of acquiring Tiktok.”
Bytedance says it has no plans to sell Tiktok. So, if Trump doesn’t step in, Tiktok could go dark in the US by April.
