Elon Musk. AP Newsis
**Trump Plans to Postpone ‘TikTok Ban Law’**
Emerging as a Strong Acquisition Candidate
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla in the U.S. and owner of X (formerly Twitter), expressed that “banning TikTok is against freedom of speech,” while also sharing his dissatisfaction with X not being available in China.
On the 19th (local time), Musk posted on X stating, “I have long opposed the TikTok ban because it goes against freedom of speech.” He further argued, “It is not balanced that TikTok is allowed to operate in the U.S. while X cannot be used in China.”
Last year, Musk consistently opposed the ‘TikTok Ban Law’ in the U.S. Congress, citing freedom of speech.
In April of last year, ahead of the House vote, he also stated, “Even if the TikTok ban benefits X, TikTok should not be banned in the U.S.”
TikTok service was temporarily halted on the afternoon of the 18th, a day before the ‘TikTok Ban Law’ was set to take effect, but it was restored on the 19th.
Donald Trump announced that after his inauguration on the 20th, he would postpone the TikTok Ban Law through an executive order to save TikTok.
TikTok, operated by China’s ByteDance, was to be banned in the U.S. unless its ownership was transferred to a U.S. company, due to national security concerns, such as user information potentially being leaked to Chinese intelligence agencies.
With the crisis of TikTok’s complete service halt in the U.S. averted, there is interest in whether Elon Musk will acquire TikTok.
Bloomberg reported on the 13th that the Chinese leadership is considering selling TikTok’s U.S. business to Musk, but TikTok has denied this as “complete fiction.”
If Musk acquires TikTok in addition to X, he would own the most influential text and video social media platforms simultaneously.