The idea of businessman Elon Musk as a potential buyer for TikTok might seem like the craziest development yet in the saga of the US government’s determination to ban the app. However, it is not as out-of-left-field as it sounds and would carry its own potential harms.
The world’s wealthiest man has long said he hopes to create an “everything app,” and incorporating TikTok into X, formerly Twitter, would take him a step toward that goal. It could also offer a potential gold mine of training content for his artificial intelligence (AI) start-up, xAI. And as a close ally of US president-elect Donald Trump, who campaigned to save the app, it is less surprising that his name came up as part of potential dealmaking with Beijing. TikTok has all but exhausted its legal avenues to overturn the law that would ban the platform in the US if it is not sold by its Chinese parent company, ByteDance Ltd.
TikTok is fighting for its future in the US, as the threat of Chinese cyberespionage has emerged as a sensitive issue in Washington. The US Department of the Treasury last month said that it was hacked by a Beijing state-sponsored actor, just days after the White House disclosed that nine telecommunications firms had been breached by a Chinese group.
Illustration: Mountain People
Before the US Supreme Court on Friday last week, the representative for the US government referenced those attacks, saying that China has a “voracious appetite to get its hands on as much information about Americans as possible.”
The law to ban TikTok targets “covert content manipulation by a foreign adversary,” the US Solicitor General told the high court, saying the Beijing could “secretly manipulate” the platform to advance its agenda. The government also maintained that TikTok’s ability to collect troves of US user data constitutes a threat to national security.
Musk might assuage Washington’s fears that the app could be used to by Beijing to manipulate Americans’ opinions. However, the billionaire’s takeover would also show that money and power can buy social media influence campaigns, although perhaps less covert ones. And Beijing’s hacking attacks, as well as loose US data protection laws, reveal China has other methods to glean Americans’ digital data. That should be a wake-up call for the US Congress that comprehensive regulations to protect citizens on all platforms from risks of abuse, regardless of where an app’s parent company is based, is long overdue.
Since Musk acquired X more than two years ago, the platform has become a cesspool of right-wing misinformation and racism that has had real-world consequences, from riots this past summer in England to false claims that Haitian immigrants were eating pets in Ohio just weeks before the US presidential vote.
He tweaked its terms of service to allow users’ data to train his AI models and reportedly ordered major changes to X’s algorithm to increase his own influence over the platform. Employees and leaked documents have indicated that Musk created a special system to show users his own posts first. Separate reporting suggests he lent his might to boost Make America Great Again and pro-Trump content on X in the lead-up to the election. And it is not like that was done to support business: By some estimates, X has shed nearly 80 percent of its value since his November 2022 acquisition.
If Musk’s deconstruction of X indicates what is in store for TikTok, it is not likely to be a win for the more than 170 million US users. He has fired hundreds of staff and dismantled much of what made the platform most useful. Once the go-to place for real-time information during breaking news events, X users now are more likely to find AI-generated images or anti-DEI rage bait when they are logging on to seek the latest information on the wildfires in Los Angeles. Swaths of users, brands and advertisers have decamped to competitors, from Meta Platforms Inc’s Threads to upstart Bluesky.
A Musk takeover of TikTok remains far from a done deal. It would require a wildly complex spinoff, and it is not immediately clear how he would fund a purchase.
TikTok has said it “can’t be expected to comment on pure fiction.” Musk has weighed in with laughing emojis. However, it is telling that Chinese officials are reportedly even in discussion about an option that would involve him acquiring the US operations.
In the past, China has signaled a complete rejection of a sale, tweaking its export laws in a display of fierce opposition. The legal battle has shifted since then. The Tesla Inc CEO is also one of the few US business leaders left with major exposure to China’s market via his electric vehicle company. Beijing is likely aware it can still wield some power over Musk’s empire.
Meanwhile, TikTok creators have been flocking to another Chinese social media platform, Xiaohongshu or “RedNote,” and urging their followers to do the same. They are using that protest to point out what many see as absurdities with the government’s move to single out just one app. A top comment with more than 73,000 likes on a viral TikTok video posted on Tuesday read: “I’d rather lose it than have it be bought by Musk honestly.”
Musk might be able to prevent TikTok from being banned due to Beijing’s threats, but his track record shows he likely would not save it from being used to influence Americans or collect vast amounts of their data. Washington should not overlook those risks either.
Catherine Thorbecke is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Asia tech. Previously, she was a tech reporter at CNN and ABC News.
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