Elon Musk has stated that he is not interested in acquiring the U.S. operations of China’s TikTok, despite recent speculation about a potential sale to the billionaire tech mogul.
Bloomberg reports that in a recent interview at a conference in Germany hosted by Axel Springer CEO Mathias Doepfner, Elon Musk clarified his stance on China’s TikTok, which has been facing national security concerns due to its Chinese ownership under Bytedance. Musk’s comments mark his first public statement on the topic of potentially buying TikTok.
“I have not put in a bid for TikTok,” Musk said, joining the conference remotely via video. “I don’t have any plans for what would I do if I had TikTok.” He further emphasized that he doesn’t use the app personally and is “not champing at the bit to acquire TikTok.”
Musk’s remarks come amidst reports that Chinese officials were considering the possibility of allowing the world’s richest person and close ally of President Donald Trump to acquire TikTok’s US operations if the company fails to prevent a ban. One potential scenario involved Musk’s company, X (formerly Twitter), taking control of TikTok US and running the business together. As Breitbart News previously reported, when rumors of Musk buying TikTok first surfaced, the company called them “pure fiction.”
The future of TikTok in the United States has been uncertain, with the app facing a years-long effort in Washington to ban it over security concerns. On his first day in office, President Trump signed an executive order temporarily halting a forced sale or shutdown of TikTok, giving the company and its Chinese parent more time to reach a deal. This marked a shift in Trump’s stance, as he had previously advocated for a ban during his first term but later changed his mind after the app helped him win over younger voters.
While ByteDance has publicly refused to sell TikTok, prospective buyers hope that the Supreme Court’s ruling in support of a national security law forcing the company to either sell or shutter the service in the US could push it to reconsider. However, any transaction would also require approval from the Chinese government.
During the interview, Musk also addressed his plans to compete with DeepSeek, the artificial intelligence chatbot released by Chinese software company DeepSeek. He stated that his own AI company, xAI, and others will soon be releasing models that surpass DeepSeek’s capabilities.
Read more at Bloomberg here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
