SAN FRANCISCO: Elon Musk on Friday (Apr 19) came out against banning TikTok in the United States, even if it would mean less competition for his social media platform X, formerly Twitter, as the initiative sees fresh bipartisan momentum in Congress.
The US House of Representatives is set to vote on Saturday on a bill that would force TikTok to divest from Chinese parent company ByteDance or face a nationwide ban.
The measure, which has the vocal backing of many Democrats and Republicans, has also been written into a massive aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, which could ease its passage in both chambers of the US Congress.
“TikTok should not be banned in the USA, even though such a ban may benefit the X platform,” Musk said in a post on the social network he acquired in 2022.
“Doing so would be contrary to freedom of speech and expression.”
