Elon Musk has levelled a rare complaint against the Communist regime of the People’s Republic of China.

Musk’s surprising post came amid the backdrop of the US ban on China’s TikTok platform, and Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn that ban in America.

In a tweet on X (formerly Twitter), Elon Musk objected to a lack of reciprocity in the US-China tech relationship.

Musk tweeted he had been against the TikTok ban as it goes against free speech, but X is not allowed to operate in China, which he said was an “unbalanced” current situation and “something needs to change”.

I have been against a TikTok ban for a long time, because it goes against freedom of speech.

That said, the current situation where TikTok is allowed to operate in America, but 𝕏 is not allowed to operate in China is unbalanced.

Something needs to change. https://t.co/YVu2hkZEVZ

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 19, 2025

Twitter/X ban

Twitter is one of a number of American tech firms that has been banned in mainland China, for many years now.

China of course is widely considered to have one of the most repressive Internet censorship regimes in the world, designed to prevent criticism of the ruling Communist Party and suppress dissent and other information deemed to be dangerous.

But over the years Twitter and other Western tech firms have accepted the Chinese ban and indeed sought to tackle some of China’s cyber activities.

In 2020 for example, Twitter revealed it had shut down more than 173,000 accounts from its platform, that were linked to the Chinese government.

Those removed Twitter accounts were linked to “state-linked information operations”, namely the spread of propaganda and misinformation.

Rare complaint

Musk’s mild criticism of China compares starkly to his fierce attacks on western politicians, and his recent intrusions into the domestic politics of countries such as Germany, the UK and Italy.

Musk however is not in the habit of criticising China’s Communist leadership, and has sought to maintain close ties with Communist party officials in China.

This is because China remains a core sales market for Tesla electric vehicles, and is also a significant manufacturing hub for the EVs.

It should be remembered that Tesla earned almost a quarter of its Q3 sales from China.

Tesla China

Indeed, in 2022 most of the world was directly criticising China for its widespread human rights abuses and forced labour camps in Xinjiang, which is home to the country’s predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and other Muslim groups such as the Kazakh and Kyrgyz ethnic minorities.

Beijing repeatedly denied abuses in Xinjiang and insisted its policies are design to combat extremism.

But the United States had labelled China’s treatment of ethnic Uyghurs and other Muslims in Xinjiang as genocide.

The United States, the UK, Canada and Australia even carried out a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics over the issue.

Despite the Western allegations of Chinese abuses in the remote province, Elon Musk’s Tesla opened a dealership showroom in the Xinjiang region – a move that was heavily criticised by US politicians, civil rights groups and trade associations.

China’s response

Asked about Musk’s comments, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning was quoted by The Financial Times as saying on Monday that Beijing welcomed any company that abided by its laws and Chinese groups abroad were obliged to follow local rules.

Responding to Trump’s proposal to push TikTok, which began restoring service in the US on Sunday, into a joint venture, Mao said Chinese groups should “decide independently” on operations and deals.