Donald Trump has said TikTok will “most likely” be given 90 more days to continue operating in the US following a nationwide ban that came into effect on Sunday.
The viral, video-sharing app went dark hours before a law came into place stipulating that TikTok, owned by Chinese company Bytedance, should be sold to an approved US buyer or be cancelled forever on January 19.
The law, signed off by outgoing President Joe Biden last April and supported by the Supreme Court, came amid national security concerns over Bytedance’s ties to the Chinese Government. The company denies any ties.
170 million users across the pond have now been stopped from posting, sharing, and viewing content on TikTok. A message on the app apologises for it not being available, but adds “we are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned!”
The president-elect, who boasts 47million TikTok followers and previously vowed to “save the app”, will be sworn into office on Monday. He told NBC News on Saturday he was considering giving TikTok more time to find a buyer.
“I think that would be, certainly, an option that we look at,” Trump told the interviewer. “The 90-day extension is something that will be most likely done, because it’s appropriate. You know, it’s appropriate.
“We have to look at it carefully. It’s a very big situation. If I decide to do that, I’ll probably announce it on Monday.”
Under the bipartisan law on TikTok, the president can grant a one-time extension of 90 days, but there are three conditions.
Firstly, there must be a path to divestiture of the app, which is the action or process of selling off subsidiary business interests or investments.
Secondly, there must be “significant progress” toward executing a sale, and thirdly, there are in place “the relevant binding legal agreements to enable execution of such qualified divestiture during the period of such extension”.
Trump did not say if he was aware of any recent progress toward a sale, nor have any details on the sale of TikTok to a non-Chinese owner been made public.
Trump has changed his stance on TikTok. The GOP leader initially attempted to ban the platform during his first term in the White House but was blocked by the courts. This was later revoked by Biden.
Last year, he briefly met with the app’s chief executive Shou Zi Chew, who will attend the inauguration on Monday. And last week, Trump met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, and said the pair spoke about TikTok’s future.
President Biden said he will stay out of any negotiations surrounding TikTok going forward, and leave it to Trump to decide the next move when he becomes the 47th President of the United States in just a days’ time.
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