Elon Musk Declines Interest in TikTok Amid U.S. Security Concerns

During a recent summit hosted by a German media company, Elon Musk made it clear that purchasing TikTok is not on his agenda. Musk, who joined the conference via video, reiterated that he has never put forward a bid for the popular short-video app, mentioning that he is not personally familiar with its format and does not use it.

He further explained that his strategy typically revolves around creating companies from the ground up, contrasting his rare billion-dollar acquisition of Twitter, now known as X, with his usual business practices. This statement came shortly after then-President Donald Trump expressed openness to the idea of Musk acquiring TikTok if he was interested.

The dialogue around TikTok remains heated as U.S. authorities have raised concerns over national security, particularly worrying that the Chinese government might compel ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, to share American users' data. In response, U.S. lawmakers and the executive branch have pushed measures such as delaying operations and negotiating the potential sale of U.S. assets, while TikTok continues to seek ways to remain accessible to its approximately 170 million American users.