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The media “Bloomberg” assured this Tuesday, January 14 that Beijing was studying the sale of TikTok’s American activities to billionaire Elon Musk. The platform, very popular among young people, responded that it was “pure fiction”.
According to information from the agency Bloombergpublished this Tuesday, January 14, Chinese authorities are reportedly evaluating the possibility of selling TikTok's American activities to Elon Musk. The Chinese platform immediately reacted on BBC Newsindicating that it was “pure fiction”.
This potential takeover is explained by the implementation of an American law which obliges the Chinese entertainment giant ByteDance to sell TikTok by January 29, 2025. In the event of its non-compliance, the very popular platform among young people could be banned in the country, which has around 170 million users.
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“A scenario” envisaged by Beijing
The article of Bloomberg mentioned “a scenario envisaged by the Chinese government” for X (namely its owner Elon Musk) to take “control of American TikTok and (manage) the two companies together”.
The decision to establish such a severe law against TikTok can be explained, according to Washington, by the risks of espionage and manipulation by Beijing. The Chinese government and ByteDance have always expressed their refusal to accept the sale of the American part of TikTok.
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Trump finally has a “soft spot” for TikTok
Elon Musk, founder of Tesla and SpaceX, created a surprise by displaying his desire to buy Twitter in early 2022. After months of twists and turns and attacks on the platform, he ended up acquiring it for $44 billion. The richest man in the world then renamed it X and used it extensively to support Donald Trump, in addition to his large financial contributions to the Republican.
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The re-elected candidate, who will officially become the 46th president of the United States next week, attempted to ban TikTok at the end of his first term in 2020. He has since changed his firing window, claiming to have a “low ” for the application and its young audience.
