Trump says he will 'most likely' delay US TikTok ban for 90 days

LAST UPDATE | 4 mins ago

US-PRESIDENT ELECT Donald Trump has said he would “most likely” give TikTok 90 more days to work out a deal that would allow the popular video-sharing platform to avoid a US ban.

Mr Trump said in an NBC News interview that he had not decided what to do but was considering granting TikTok a reprieve after he is sworn into office on Monday.

A law that prohibits mobile app stores and internet hosting services from distributing TikTok to US users is due to take effect tomorrow.

Under the law passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden last year, TikTok’s China-based parent company had nine months to sell the platform’s US operation to an approved buyer.

The law allows the sitting president to grant an extension if a sale is in progress.

“I think that would be, certainly, an option that we look at,” Trump told Meet The Press moderator Kristen Welker in a phone interview.

“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.”

‘Go dark’ 

Earlier, TikTok said it will have to “go dark” in the US this weekend unless the outgoing Biden administration assures the company it will not enforce a shutdown of the app.

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Yesterday, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the federal law banning the app unless it is sold by its China-based parent company.

The Supreme Court held that the risk to national security posed by TikTok’s ties to China overcomes concerns about limiting speech by the app or its 170 million users in the United States.

The sale of TikTok does not appear imminent and, although experts have said the app will not disappear from existing users’ phones once the law takes effect, new users will not be able to download it and updates will not be available.

That will eventually render the app unworkable, the Justice Department has said in court filings.

Trump, mindful of TikTok’s popularity and his own 14.7 million followers on the app, finds himself on the opposite side of the argument from prominent Senate Republicans who fault TikTok’s Chinese owner for not finding a buyer before now.

Concerns

The US has said it is concerned about TikTok collecting vast swaths of user data, including sensitive information on viewing habits, that could fall into the hands of the Chinese government through coercion.

Officials have also warned the algorithm that fuels what users see on the app is vulnerable to manipulation by Chinese authorities, who can use it to shape content on the platform in a way that is difficult to detect.

TikTok points out that the US has not presented evidence that China has attempted to manipulate content on its US platform or gather American user data through TikTok.

A three-judge panel made up of two Republican appointees and a Democratic appointee unanimously upheld the law in December, prompting TikTok’s quick appeal to the Supreme Court.

Without a sale to an approved buyer, the law bars app stores operated by Apple, Google and others from offering TikTok beginning Sunday.

Internet hosting services also will be prohibited from hosting TikTok.