Donald Trump Will Be Open If Elon Musk Wants To Buy TikTok

US President Donald Trump (photo: Instagram @realdonaldtrump)

JAKARTA US President Donald Trump has raised his voice about the prospect of buying TikTok by Tesla CEO Elon Musk. On Tuesday, January 21, 2025, Trump said he would be open to this possibility.

Some time ago, reports emerged that officials in China had discussed the potential sale of TikTok operations in the US. Reportedly, they plan to sell the company to Elon Musk, but this news has been directly denied by TikTok.

Trump also seemed to welcome the possibility. When asked if Trump would agree if Musk bought the video distribution platform, the new president said that, "I would do it if he wanted to buy it."

In fact, Trump agrees with the plan to buy TikTok assets in the US by billionaires or local investors. Although the 47th US President is trying to delay the divestment rules against TikTok, Trump wants to relinquish China's influence by taking control of the platform.

"I've met the owner of TikTok, the big owner," Trump explained. "So, what I want to tell someone is to buy and give half to the United States.'"

On the other hand, Musk briefly discussed the ban on the operation of TikTok in the US at the end of last year. The billionaire said he disagreed with TikTok's ban. The reason is, the closing of the app has opposed people's free speech.

This statement is almost the same as what TikTok has said since it was forced to part with ByteDance. However, Musk also feels that the business environment in the US and China is not balanced.

TikTok can operate freely in America, even though the platform is owned by China. However, Musk's X cannot operate in the country. This situation is a concern, and Trump may also pay attention to it, so the potential purchase of TikTok is still being discussed today.

It is not known whether TikTok will be happy with Trump's plan, especially since the platform strongly supports the president. The reason is, TikTok doesn't want to separate itself from ByteDance, nor does it. Therefore, TikTok seeks to cancel divestment rules by bringing its law to the US Supreme Court (MA).

Unfortunately, the Supreme Court is more in favor of the Biden government's decision, which is that the regulation must be obeyed because it is considered a threat to national security. However, for now, Trump has signed an order to postpone TikTok's divestment rules or coercion to escape ByteDance.