American multibillionaire Elon Musk said he is not interested in buying TikTok, a social network that the United States is trying to ban due to an alleged security threat from its Chinese owners.
Musk’s statement was published on Saturday on the website of the WELT Group, part of the German media corporation Axel Springer SE, which hosted a meeting at which the owner of Tesla, SpaceX and X was a guest via video link.
I did not make an offer for TikTok, he said, seven days after Trump indicated that he was open to Musk taking over the application owned by China’s ByteDance.
“I have no plans for what I would do with TikTok,” Musk said.
He added that he does not personally use the application and is not familiar with its format.
“I have no desire to take over TikTok at all, as a rule I do not take over companies, it is very rare,” Musk stressed.
He also called his acquisition of the former Twitter, now X, unusual.
“As a rule, I build companies from the ground up,” Musk added.
Trump has signed an executive order seeking a delay in banning the popular app TikTok, which was set to be blocked in the US on January 19.
ByteDance was given a deadline in January to sell TikTok’s US assets or face a ban.
