ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, is required to sell the app to a U.S.-based buyer or face a nationwide ban.

After years of rejecting the idea of a sale of TikTok’s US assets to an American buyer in order to avert a ban, China and ByteDance may have found an owner they could live with: Elon Musk.

Reports about Chinese officials eyeing Musk as the buyer of TikTok’s U.S. operations are “not a total shock” given Musk’s relationship with Trump, says Wedbush analyst Dan Ives.

Chinese officials are reportedly exploring a backup plan for TikTok after the Supreme Court appeared unlikely to save it from a US ban. With TikTok’s legal options nearly exhausted, multiple news outlets are reporting that China is considering an option it previously said it wouldn’t: letting ByteDance sell the app.

Could Elon Musk save TikTok in the US? China weighs option to sell the controversial TikTok social media app's US operations ahead of looming ban

Joe' host Joe Scarborough expressed on Thursday's show that he has "always been horrified" by the Chinese-owned app TikTok and said Elon Musk should not be the person to take over American operations for the social platform.

Elon Musk has indicated that he’s open to resurrecting the defunct video platform, Vine, after a ban shut down TikTok over the weekend to millions of users in the U.S. Musk, who owns social media rival X,

Elon Musk criticized the situation where TikTok operates in the US, but X is banned in China, calling it unbalanced and emphasizing the need for change, while also expressing his long-standing opposition to banning TikTok.

In a recent post on X, Elon Musk voiced concerns over the ongoing tensions between the U.S. and China regarding social media platforms, specifically TikTok and X (formerly Twitter). Musk, who owns X,