As the U.S. Supreme Court recently signaled its intent to uphold a federal law banning TikTok—or forcing a sale—furious TikTok fans have continued to voice opposition to the possible ban.
But those same fans are rejecting one possible resolution as a bridge too far.
Letting Elon Musk buy it.
Could Elon Musk buy TikTok?
Bloomberg reported that TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, is considering selling to Musk ahead of the current Jan. 19 deadline to divest or be banned.
The company previously opposed any sale whatsoever.
In response to Bloomberg’s report, TikTok dismissed the notion of Musk stepping in as a buyer, saying the idea is “pure fiction.”
Nonetheless, TikTok users are wary of the prospect of a Musk-owned TikTok, with some people pointing to the shake-ups X underwent when Musk bought out Twitter and rebranded it.
“Oh my god, this would be a disaster,” one TikTok creator posted on Monday, speculating that it would turn into “a fascist right-wing tool” under Musk ownership.
“That’s worse than banning it,” echoed the top reply under the video.
@aravosis 13JAN25 #news #fyp ♬ original sound – The Aravosis Report
“I’ll delete my account so fast,” replied someone else.
“I would leave the app,” concluded another person.
Some people, however, were on board with the idea.
“i’m not on this app much but I would be on it a lot more if Musk owned it,” one person wrote. “There’s something to be said about unfiltered free speech.”
Another user posted about the report saying, “Please let this happen!!!”
But most of the comment section was filled with people opposed to the idea.
“Honestly I trust the Chinese government more than Elon Musk,” quipped one.
“I rather go to RED NOTE,” commented someone else, referencing another Chinese app that surged in popularity ahead of the looming deadline.
Musk, for his part, has not publicly commented on the Bloomberg report or the prospect of him buying the platform.
However, earlier last year, Musk criticized the push to ban TikTok as a free speech issue.
“This law is not just about TikTok, it is about censorship and government control!” he blasted in March. “If it were just about TikTok, it would only cite ‘foreign control’ as the issue, but it does not.”
And in April, he remarked: “In my opinion, TikTok should not be banned in the USA, even though such a ban may benefit the X platform. Doing so would be contrary to freedom of speech and expression. It is not what America stands for.”
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