If the CEO of Tesla wants to purchase TikTok, Trump says he is amenable to Musk doing so.

Washington, D.C. (Reuter) : On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump stated that if Elon Musk, the wealthy CEO of Tesla (TSLA.O), so desired, he could purchase the social media app TikTok.

Just before a rule requiring its Chinese owner, ByteDance, to sell the app on national security grounds or face banishment went into force on Sunday, the 170 million-user short video app was momentarily pulled offline.

Although TikTok has refuted the allegation, Bloomberg News reported last week that Chinese officials were in first discussions over a possible option to sell the company’s U.S. business to Musk.

After U.S. authorities cautioned that there was a possibility of American data being exploited under the Chinese parent firm ByteDance, Trump issued an executive order on Monday to postpone the law’s implementation by 75 days.

On Tuesday afternoon, TikTok was still not accessible for download on American Apple and Android smartphones.

According to Trump, if Musk were to purchase the platform, “I would be, if he wanted to buy it,” he said to reporters on Tuesday.

“I have met with owners of TikTok, the big owners,” Trump stated. “So, what I am thinking about saying to somebody is ‘buy it and give half to the United States of America.’

TikTok’s prohibition under a statute signed by former President Joe Biden and ratified by the U.S. Congress has been met with opposition from free speech supporters.

The business claims that U.S. officials misrepresented its connections to China, claiming that its content recommendation engine and user data are kept on Oracle (ORCL.N) cloud servers in the United States, and that decisions about content moderation that impact American users are likewise made there.

There is a “unbalanced” commercial climate between the United States and China, according to Musk, who spent over $250 million to assist Trump win the presidential election the previous November.

“Because it violates the right of free expression, I have long opposed a TikTok ban. However, Musk, the owner of social media site X, stated over the weekend that the present scenario is uneven because TikTok is permitted to function in America but X is prohibited from operating in China.