‘Without U.S. approval, there is no Tik Tok,” U.S. president-elect posted on Sunday. ‘With our approval, it is worth hundreds of billions of dollars — maybe trillions’
President-elect Donald Trump asked technology companies to “not let TikTok stay dark” and announced he would extend a deadline to sell the company after the video platform suspended its services in the U.S. and Apple Inc. and Google removed the platform from their app stores.
“I will issue an executive order on Monday to extend the period of time before the law’s prohibitions take effect, so that we can make a deal to protect our national security,” Trump said in a social media post. “The order will also confirm that there will be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before my order.”
Trump, who will be sworn in at noon Monday, said he would seek a joint venture under which new, U.S.-based owners would purchase 50 per cent of the company and “keep it in good hands and allow it to stay up.”
“Without U.S. approval, there is no Tik Tok,” Trump continued. “With our approval, it is worth hundreds of billions of dollars — maybe trillions.”
The law banning the app, which passed with bipartisan support in Congress, requires tech companies that host or distribute TikTok in the U.S. — such as Apple, Google and Oracle Corp. — to stop doing so on Jan. 19. TikTok’s legal challenges failed to head off the measure, which was passed last year to address national security concerns.
“A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S.,” TikTok said in a notification on the platform to users late Saturday. “Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now.”
Trump’s team has been searching for a way to satisfy the legal requirement that prohibits the hosting of a “foreign adversary controlled application,” and the joint venture structure may satisfy both the legal requirements and Chinese officials, who so far have strongly preferred the company to stay under control of parent ByteDance Ltd.
Companies found in violation could face enormous penalties determined by “multiplying $5,000 by the number of users,” according to the law. In a country where roughly half the population is on TikTok — the app claims 170 million monthly U.S. users — those fines could add up quickly.
“We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office,” TikTok’s notification continued. “Please stay tuned!” The note also directs users to a page to “learn more,” where they can download their TikTok data.
Key Republican members of Congress appeared to be skeptical of Trump’s plan.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, who has called TikTok a serious threat, said it was crucial that Trump makes sure the app “changes hands.”
“There needs to be a sale, a full divestiture, from the Chinese Communist Party,” Johnson said on NBC’s Meet the Press.
That view was echoed by Republican Senate intelligence chair Tom Cotton and GOP Senator Paul Ricketts who said in a social media post that there “was no legal basis for any kind of ‘extension’” of the law’s effective date.
Removing the app from the app stores would not have shut off the service immediately; TikTokers who’d already downloaded it would have been able to continue using it, but would not have been able to install software updates. The app would have deteriorated over time until becoming unusable.
By preemptively taking the platform offline all at once, and earlier than anticipated, TikTok has a chance of mobilizing its enormous user base into protest. It’s possible users will demand action from political leaders like Trump to reverse the ban.
ByteDance also notified U.S. users that it was disabling a slew of other apps it operates in the country, including CapCut, Lemon8 and Lark, a Slack-like productivity app. ByteDance’s gaming subsidiary, Moonton, also disabled its two mobile games.
The law, signed last April by President Joe Biden, required ByteDance to sell its U.S. TikTok business to address national security concerns or face a shutdown.
TikTok has previously tried to use its popularity to change its fate. The company urged TikTokers to call Congress to protest the bill and try to prevent it from passing when it was first introduced. The strategy backfired at the time, stoking lawmakers’ fears about the app’s influence over U.S. users.
But given Trump’s recent support of the app, it could be more effective this time.
Trump, who tried to ban TikTok during his first presidency over national security concerns, has since warmed up to the social media platform, speculating that it helped him win young voters during the election. Earlier this month, he unsuccessfully made a push for the Supreme Court to delay the law’s divestiture deadline so he could negotiate a solution once in office.
TikTok CEO Shou Chew has also spent time with Trump at Mar-a-Lago and is expected to attend his inauguration on Monday.
Even before TikTok made the app unavailable, loyal creators were organizing online to pressure Trump to follow through on pledges he made on the campaign trail to be TikTok’s saviour.
“This is a promise Trump made and it is a promise he used to get a large number of young people to vote for him,” TikTok influencer Tiffany Cianci told Bloomberg ahead of the company’s recent appearance before the Supreme Court. “We are calling on him to deliver immediately.”
—With assistance from Zheping Huang, Virginia Van Natta and Ian Fisher.
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