For the Chinese authorities, selling TikTok to Elon Musk might mean handing the platform over to an ally whose business empire is heavily dependent on the Chinese market, while also being someone whose opinions are given significant weight by future U.

Chinese officials are looking into selling the U.S. operations of TikTok to Elon Musk if the social media firm ultimately gets banned here, according to reports.

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.