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UPDATED Saturday, with Donald Trump comments: The income president said he will “most likely give TikTok a 90-day extension called for in a law upheld by the Supreme Court yesterday to see it sold or banned by a deadline tomorrow.
In a phone interview with Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker of NBC News, he said will give TikTok the reprieve after he takes office Monday.
“I think that would be, certainly, an option that we look at. 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,” Trump said.
He said he had not made a final decision.
UPDATED Saturday, with White House comment: It turns out TikTok is just as confused as the rest of us after a Supreme Court ruling this morning. SCOTUS upheld a law that would see the popular app with 170+ million U.S. users banned on Sunday.
That happens to be the last day of the Biden administration, with Donald Trump set to be sworn in on Monday. In a statement earlier today, the White House said that because of the tight timing, the Biden administration would leave implementation of the law up to the Trump administration.
TikTok has now made itself clear. It needs more clarity from the Biden administration and the DOJ on its status as of this Sunday or it will be forced to go dark. Donald Trump does not want TikTok banned and has said he will figure something out, but no specifics or timing. And he cannot formally do anything until Monday. This could not have worked out more strangely.
“The statements issued today by both the Biden White House and the Department of Justice have failed to provide the necessary clarity and assurance to the service providers that are integral to maintaining TikTok’s availability to over 170 million Americans,” TikTok said in a statement.
“Unless the Biden Administration immediately provides a definitive statement to satisfy the most critical service providers assuring non-enforcement, unfortunately TikTok will be forced to go dark on January 19.”
The White House released a statement today from Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre calling the TikTok threat. “It is a stunt, and we see no reason for TikTok or other companies to take actions in the next few days before the Trump administration takes office on Monday. We have laid out our position clearly and straightforwardly; actions to implement this law will fall to the next administration. So TikTok and other companies should take up any concerns with them.”
The bipartisan Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, based in national security concerns, was signed into law by President Biden last year and gave TikTok until Sunday to sell itself to a U.S. entity or be banned. There’s one offer and lots of speculation but no sale is imminent. A ban would mean being dropped by the app stores of Apple and Google. In that case, current users would still have access to the app but no upgrades and gradual deterioration. The scenario TikTok just set up on Friday, however, is that it would take the initiative and go dark.
It’s a bit of brinksmanship. Despite passing the law, the Biden Administration may not want its last act to be disappearing a wildly popular app. Members of Congress in recent days and weeks, inundated by constituents, have also spoken up for a delay in the ban. TikTok is holding their feet to the fire.
There is a lot riding on this — for TikTok’s creators, its big advertising dollars, its cultural currency and U.S. relations with China and, according to the law, national security. Trump said he had spoken today with the Chinese president including about TikTok, which is owned by Chinese social media giant ByteDance. TikTok’s CEO Shou Chew met with Trump in Mar-a-Lago and will be at the inauguration.
In a video post earlier today he said, “On behalf of everyone at TikTok and all our users across the country, I want to thank President Trump for his commitment to work with us to find a solution that keeps TikTok available in the United States.”
“We are grateful and pleased to have the support of a president who truly understands our platform, one who has used TikTok to express his own thoughts and perspectives, connecting with the world and generating more than 60 billion views of his content in the process,” he said.
