Trump Says He’ll ‘Most Likely’ Throw TikTok a Bone After Inauguration as Platform Prepares to Go ‘Dark’ Sunday
(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President-elect Donald Trump told NBC News Saturday he will “most likely” allow TikTok a 90-day extension to operate in the US after he is inaugurated on Monday.
The app is slated to be banned on US servers and app stores beginning Sunday after President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan bill into law last year banning the app. The law gave TikTok’s owner – Beijing-based ByteDance – until Jan. 19 to divest from the popular video-sharing platform.
ByteDance declined to sell and Friday the Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that the ban was lawful.
TikTok said Friday night it would “go dark” Sunday unless Biden directly intervened. Saturday morning, Trump told NBC’s Kristen Welker by phone he would probably issue an order temporarily saving the app.
“I think that would be, certainly, an option that we look at,” Trump told Welker. “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 added, “If I decide to do that, I’ll probably announce it on Monday.” NBC further reported:
A 90-day extension under specific conditions is explicitly allowed for in the bipartisan law passed last year. But an extension Monday may not be enough to avoid the app going dark for at least a day, because the current deadline for compliance is Sunday.
The fate of TikTok is one of the subjects that has consumed the final days of the Biden administration, and many of the app’s millions of U.S. users are eagerly awaiting a resolution.
On Friday, THE verified TikTok Support account posted on X that its third-party partners did not know if their continued work for TikTok could imperil them legally and that the app would have no choice but to shut itself down in the US Sunday.
The account said:
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. 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.
