Trump: 'TikTok is worthless without a permit'

STORY: US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday (January 21) he was open to billionaire Elon Musk buying social media app TikTok if the Tesla CEO wanted to do so.

"I would be, if he wanted to buy it," Trump told reporters on Tuesday when asked if he was open to Musk buying the platform.

The short video app used by 170 million Americans was taken offline temporarily for users shortly before a law that said it must be sold by its Chinese owner ByteDance on national security grounds, or be banned, took effect on Sunday.

Bloomberg News reported last week that Chinese officials were in preliminary talks about a potential option to sell TikTok's operations in the United States to Musk, though the company has denied that.

Trump on Monday (January 20) signed an executive order seeking to delay by 75 days the enforcement of the law that was put in place after US officials warned that under Chinese parent company ByteDance, there was a risk of Americans' data being misused.

TikTok remained unavailable to download on Apple and Android devices in the United States on Tuesday afternoon.

(Production: Ivan Romero)