TikTok’s Fate Hangs in Balance as US Officials Urge Delay in Ban
TikTok’s fortunes took a positive turn on Thursday as a growing number of US officials said its Chinese owner should have more time to sell the app and stop it from being banned ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
Trump’s incoming national security adviser, Mike Waltz, told Fox News that the new Republican administration will keep the social media app used by 170 million Americans alive in the US if there is a viable deal. Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer urged President Joe Biden to extend by 90 days a deadline to shut it down on Sunday.
A law passed in April mandates TikTok’s owner, ByteDance, to divest TikTok’s US assets by Sunday to a non-Chinese buyer, or be banned on national security concerns. However, a provision in the law allows for a 90-day extension if there is “significant progress” toward a divestiture.
“We will put measures in place to keep TikTok from going dark,” Waltz said. “Essentially that buys President Trump time to keep TikTok going.”
A White House official said on Thursday that the Biden administration does not plan to enforce the ban on Sunday, leaving it up to the Trump administration. The US Supreme Court is currently deciding whether to uphold the law and allow TikTok to be banned on Sunday, or to pause it to give the justices more time to make a decision.
Trump once supported a ban on the app but changed his stance last year amid growing signs of support for his presidential campaign among tech executives. In a sign of warming ties between Trump and TikTok, the video app’s CEO, Shou Zi Chew, will attend the presidential inauguration on January 20 and be seated on the dais among other high-profile invitees.
Schumer said on the Senate floor that Democrats tried to pass a bill extending the deadline to find a solution to 270 days. “I will work with the Trump administration and with both parties to keep TikTok alive while protecting our national security,” he added.
Several Republicans and Democrats remain concerned about Chinese ownership of the app, worried the Chinese government could use it as a tool to collect data on US citizens and to spread propaganda to the public.
The prospect of a TikTok ban has already triggered some users to seek alternatives, with Chinese social media app RedNote gaining nearly 3 million US users in one day earlier this week.
