Former US President Donald Trump stated on Tuesday that he would be open to Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of social media platform X, acquiring TikTok, the Chinese-owned video-sharing app.
“If he wanted to buy it, I would be,” Trump told reporters when asked about the possibility of Musk purchasing the app. Musk, the world’s richest man, also leads a budget-cutting initiative in the current administration.
TikTok is currently facing a US law that mandates its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to divest from the platform or face a ban in the United States.
In one of his first actions after being re-elected, Trump paused enforcement of this law, which had been set to take effect the day before his second term began, effectively threatening to make TikTok illegal. The executive order directed his attorney general to delay enforcement for 75 days.
To help TikTok’s US operations, Trump also suggested a 50-50 partnership between the United States and ByteDance, although he did not elaborate on how this could work.
The potential ban stems from concerns that the Chinese government could use TikTok to spy on Americans or influence US public opinion through data collection and content manipulation.
When asked on Tuesday whether he had TikTok on his phone, Trump, whose devices are banned from using the app, responded, “No, but… I think I’ll get it right now.”
TikTok temporarily shut down in the US on Saturday as the deadline for the sale loomed, leaving millions of users frustrated. With help from Oracle, its server provider, the app resumed operations on Sunday, crediting Trump’s commitment to saving TikTok for the reversal.
Despite this, the app is still unavailable for download on Apple and Google’s app stores, preventing new users from accessing it and blocking updates for those who already have it.
Companies that fail to comply with the law could face fines of up to $5,000 per user. Last week, reports surfaced that Chinese officials were considering selling TikTok’s US operations to Musk’s platform X, but the company firmly denied these claims.
