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The video-sharing platform has denied a report claiming the Chinese government is considering a sale to a tech billionaire.
TikTok has dismissed as “pure fiction” a report that the Chinese government is considering selling the platform to Elon Musk to avoid a ban in the United States.
Bloomberg News on Tuesday reported that Chinese authorities are in preliminary talks about the potential sale to avoid a ban scheduled to take effect if China-based owner ByteDance does not sell its US operations by January 19.
The report, which cited unnamed people familiar with the matter, said one of the scenarios being discussed involves combining TikTok with Musk's X social media platform.
Bloomberg said it was unclear how Musk, the world's richest man with an estimated worth of more than $400 billion, would pull off the deal or whether he would have to sell some of his other assets to complete the sale.
TikTok did not immediately respond to Al Jazeera's request for comment, but a spokesperson was quoted as telling the BBC, HuffPost and Variety: “We cannot be expected to comment on pure fiction.”
The US Supreme Court is considering the constitutionality of the looming ban after TikTok filed a legal challenge against the related Act to Protect Americans from Apps Controlled by Foreign Enemies.
During oral arguments on Friday, the court appeared inclined to uphold the ban, with a majority of justices appearing unconvinced by TikTok's argument that the forced sale would violate the First Amendment to the US Constitution, which upholds free speech.
Outgoing President Joe Biden signed the TikTok bill into law in April amid bipartisan concerns about perceived national security risks.
Lawmakers from both the Democratic and Republican parties have expressed concern that the platform could be used to harvest Americans' personal data and manipulate public discourse.
President-elect Donald Trump, who is due to be inaugurated on January 20, pledged to “save” the platform during his presidential campaign, a reversal from his attempt to ban the app during his first term.
