TikTok has dismissed a report that China is considering allowing the sale of the social media company’s U.S. operations to Elon Musk as “pure fiction.”
The company’s comments follow a Bloomberg report that Chinese officials are considering an option that could see its operations in America sold to the world’s richest person if the US Supreme Court upholds the ban on the application.
Supreme Court justices are expected to rule on legislation that would either see TikTok banned in the United States or sell its operations in the country to an American investor.
TikTok has repeatedly said it will not sell its U.S. business.
“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 authorities would see Musk’s social media platform X take control of TikTok’s U.S. operations.
The U.S. government has argued that without sales, TikTok could be used by China as a tool for espionage and political manipulation.
The company has repeatedly denied any potential influence from the Chinese Communist Party and said the law violates its users’ First Amendment rights to free speech.
