Chinese government officials are reportedly mulling selling TikTok's US operations to Elon Musk to avoid a complete ban in the country.

Beijing officials would rather have TikTok retain its ownership under parent company ByteDance Ltd. However, with the looming ban in the US market, they are contemplating selling the platform’s U.S. operations to Elon Musk.

Chinese government officials have reportedly discussed a scenario where ByteDance sells TikTok's United States arm to Elon Musk, should the Supreme Court

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.

TikTok on Tuesday labeled as "pure fiction" a report that China is exploring a potential sale of the video-sharing platform's US operations to billionaire Elon Musk as the firm faces an American law requiring imminent Chinese divestment.

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.

With the clock running down on an impending US ban, China is considering an interesting contingency plan for TikTok. Officials in Beijing are said to be evaluating a potential option that involves Elon Musk acquiring the US operation of the short-video app if the company fails to fend off the controversial ban.

Beijing officials preparing options for after Donald Trump’s inauguration have examined possible openness to a deal with the owner of X.

Elon Musk has apparently come up as a candidate to buy TikTok if the U.S. government's ban goes through. Earlier this year, a law was passed requiring

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.