The deadline for TikTok’s potential US ban or sale is looming large. The social media platform’s parent firm ByteDance has till January 19 to either sell it’s US stake in TikTok or face a ban that would make the app unavailable in the country. Now, it looks like Elon Musk is in the running to acquire the US operations of TikTok.

A claim that China considered selling TikTok’s U.S. operations to Elon Musk ignited online debates, though TikTok dismissed it as fiction.

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

Chinese officials are mulling a potential option that involves the sale of TikTok’s US operations to billionaire Elon Musk if the company fails to fend off a potential ban, Bloomberg News reported on Monday,

A Monday report in Bloomberg that Chinese-owned TikTok is considering selling to Elon Musk is "pure fiction," a rep for the social media platform told TheWrap. TikTok is facing a ban in the U.S. unless it's sold to a U.