Silence is consent. In any case, by Tuesday morning, January 14, the prolific Elon Musk had not published a single message about the possible takeover of TikTok's interests by X (ex-Twitter) in the US. The matter was officially denied by TikTok to the Wall Street Journal: "We can't be expected to comment on pure fiction."

Of course. But in a world where reality surpasses fiction, the news agency Bloomberg undoubtedly raised a red flag on Monday, January 13, when it put forward the hypothesis in a dispatch. According to the business news agency, top Chinese officials have already begun discussing contingency plans for TikTok if its ban on US territory is confirmed. This could involve Elon Musk, who already owns the X platform and is on good terms with the Chinese state, with his Tesla factory in Shanghai.

Under a scenario mentioned by the Chinese government, according to Bloomberg, X would take control of TikTok US. With over 170 million users across the Atlantic, TikTok could support X's efforts to attract advertisers, while Musk's artificial intelligence company X.AI could benefit from TikTok data. However, Chinese officials have yet to reach a firm consensus on how to proceed, and their deliberations are still preliminary, according to Bloomberg. The agency says it does not know whether ByteDance, Tiktok's parent company, is aware of the Chinese government's discussions, nor whether TikTok and Musk were involved.

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