TikTok was killed for users in the US on Saturday night, but it may not be gone for long.
President-elect Donald Trump posted on Truth Social Sunday morning that he would issue an executive order on Monday that would “extend the time before the law’s bans go into effect so we can make a deal to protect our national security.”
Even before TikTok collapsed, Trump had said he would “probably” give the company a 90-day extension.
In his post on Sunday, Trump also laid out his “initial thinking” of what a deal could look like, describing it as “a joint venture between the current owners and/or new owners in which the US gets 50% of property”.
Bipartisan majorities in both houses of Congress passed a law last April that would have forced ByteDance to either sell TikTok or ban it in the United States. the law was quickly signed by President Joe Biden. Trump, who tried to force ByteDance to sell TikTok during his first term, has vocally opposed the ban this time around.
With the Supreme Court upholding the law in a ruling Friday, the law set to take effect Sunday and Trump’s inauguration scheduled for Monday, White House and Justice Department officials have issued statements suggesting they will hold off on actual implementation of the ban on the incoming president.
However, TikTok said “critical service providers” needed a more “definitive statement” that they would not be penalized for continuing to host or record the app. without these assurances, the app would be dark. (A White House spokesman called TikTok’s position “a gimmick.”) When the app essentially crashed, TikTok shared a message with users that “We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to restore TikTok once it takes over.”
Trump’s post suggested he would like to see TikTok go live again even before issuing his executive order, writing that he is “asking companies not to let TikTok stay dark” and that his order “will confirm that there will be no liability for a company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before my order.”
“Americans deserve to see our exciting inauguration on Monday, as well as other events and conversations,” Trump wrote.
