The US President-elect Donald Trump is likely to grant TikTok a 90-day reprieve from a potential ban in the US after he takes office on January 20.
He said this in an interview with NBC News.
He stressed that he has not yet made a final decision, but is considering extending the deadline for the Chinese parent company to sell TikTok to a non-Chinese buyer.
"I think thatʼs certainly an option that weʼre considering. A 90-day extension is whatʼs most likely going to be done because itʼs appropriate. If I decide to do that, Iʼll probably announce it on Monday," he said.
The current deadline for TikTokʼs sale is January 19, so NBC News suggests that access to the app in the US could disappear for at least a day.
TikTok ban in the US
The US House of Representatives passed a bill in March 2024 that could ban the social network TikTok in the US. The bill was supported by the US Senate in April, and President Joe Biden signed the bill into law that same month.
The law is set to take effect on January 19, 2025, with the possibility of a one-time 90-day delay granted by the president if the sale of the social network is not completed by then.
The US lawmakers say TikTok poses a national security threat because the Chinese government could force ByteDance to hand over US usersʼ data. The bill would require US-based TikTok to divest itself of its Chinese owner, ByteDance, or face a ban.
Trump tried to ban TikTok during his first term as president, but reversed his stance during this yearʼs presidential campaign and promised to "save" the app.
He explained this by wanting to maintain “competition” with Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, which he criticized for allegedly censoring right-wing voices. The latter said on January 7 that Meta would work with Trump “to confront governments around the world that are persecuting American companies and increasing censorship”.
According to Bloomberg, China is considering selling its American unit TikTok to Elon Musk. However, ByteDance representatives called the Bloomberg report “pure fiction”.
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