Musk acquired X (then Twitter) in October 2022 after a highly publicized back and forth, in which he gave up on the acquisition midway but ultimately closed the deal, paying $44 billion for the platform. X's user base has been on a decline since the acquisition, and advertising revenues have plummeted.

Officials at TikTok said they could not be expected to comment on pure fiction when asked about rumors China was looking into having Elon Musk acquire the social media platform.

TikTok rejected a report Monday that the Chinese government is mulling a proposal to sell the company’s U.S. operations to billionaire Elon Musk to keep the app from being banned in America. Bloomberg first reported the idea was just one option on the table as the U.