For the billionaire, the technological relationship between countries is “unbalanced” and that “something needs to change”
Billionaire Elon Musk criticized the ban on the social network X (formerly Twitter) in China, opposing the lack of reciprocity in the technological relationship between the United States and the Asian country. The businessman also said that he was against banning TikTok in the United States, even if the measure benefited his social network.
Last Sunday (January 19, 2025) Musk said, in a post on his profile on the X platform, that “something needs to change”. The speech comes after (Republican), who takes office as President of the United States this Monday (Jan. 20, 2025), states that “very likely” would extend the deadline for ByteDance, a Chinese technology group, to divest from TikTok.
“I have long been against banning TikTok, because it goes against freedom of expression. That said, the current situation where TikTok can operate in America but 𝕏 cannot operate in China is unbalanced. Something needs to change”wrote Musk.
When asked about Elon Musk’s comments, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said this Monday (Jan 20) that Beijing welcomes any company that complies with its laws and that Chinese groups abroad are obliged to follow local rules. The information was released by Financial Times.
Regarding Trump’s proposal on TikTok, which began to have the application restored hours after being banned, Mao said that Chinese groups should “decide independently” about operations and business.
Last Sunday (19 January) Elon Musk met with Chinese Vice President Han Zheng, who will be Xi Jinping’s representative at Trump’s inauguration.
“Han met Elon Musk, and welcomed US companies, including Tesla, to seize opportunities and share the fruits of China’s development”Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported. Han described US business as the “backbone” of relations between countries and invited companies to “play an active role as a bridge” in US-China relations, the agency said.
