With TikTok in the U.S. facing being shut down on Jan. 19, Chinese officials are reportedly evaluating an 11th-hour option that involves Elon Musk, through X Inc., acquiring the U.S. operations of TikTok should last-minute attempts to stop the ban fail.

Bloomberg, quoting people familiar with the matter, said today that though Beijing officials strongly prefer that TikTok remains under the ownership of parent company ByteDance Ltd., the contingency planning includes plans for X to take control of the U.S. arm and for ByteDance and X to run the business together. For X, the deal would deliver 170 million users in the U.S., bolstering X’s efforts to attract advertisers.

However, TikTok denied such plans to Variety, calling the report “pure fiction.” The Bloomberg report does add that officials have yet to reach any firm consensus about how to proceed and their deliberations are still preliminary. It’s also noted that it’s unclear if ByteDance knows about the Chinese government discussions and whether TikTok and Musk have been involved.

Musk has become very close to President-elect Trump, including being appointed to co-lead the Department of Government Efficiency. That has also played into the contingency planning, with Bloomberg noting that Musk’s links to Trump hold some appeal for the Chinese government.

Notably, the report comes days after users on X openly discussed the idea that Musk should buy TikTok. Musk has previously argued against the TikTok ban, saying that it “goes against the very principles America stands for.”

The discussion in Beijing may be moot, however, since despite what some U.S. politicians claim, ByteDance is not currently and never has been fully under the Chinese Communist Party’s control.

“The Chinese government holds a so-called golden share in a ByteDance affiliate that gives it influence over the company’s strategy and operations,” Bloomberg wrote. “TikTok maintains that the control only applies to the China-based subsidiary Douyin Information Service Co. and has no bearing on ByteDance operations outside China.”

The report does add, though, that Beijing’s export rules prevent Chinese companies from selling their software algorithms, like the one integral to TikTok. Since Beijing must approve a sale that includes TikTok’s recommendation engine, it still has a significant voice at the table on any deal.

Attempts to stop the U.S. TikTok ban under the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act remain ongoing. Though reports suggest that the Supreme Court is leaning toward upholding the Act and hence the ban, the final ruling is expected to come before the Jan. 19 ban deadline and possibly this week.

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