President Donald Trump said after taking office on Monday morning that he would “most likely” give the Chinese-owned TikTok app a 90-day reprieve from a potential ban in the United States.
The president-elect said in an interview with NBC News on Saturday that he is considering extending a deadline set on Sunday for the wildly popular app’s parent company to sell TikTok to a non-Chinese buyer or face a ban. . US law.
“I think that would certainly be an option that we would consider. A 90-day extension is appropriate, so it’s probably going to happen. Yeah, that’s appropriate. We’ll have to look at it very closely. It’s a huge situation,” Trump said in a phone interview.
“If we decide to do that, we’ll probably make an announcement on Monday,” he said.
President Trump’s comments came after the outgoing Biden administration handed over decisions on the issue to the incoming administration and TikTok appealed for greater “clarity and assurances” to ensure the service’s U.S. technology hosts are not exposed to legal jeopardy. Announced.
The company said Friday that it plans to go into “insolvency” on Sunday unless it gets assurances from the current administration. Outgoing White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called TikTok’s plan to go dark a “stunt” in a statement Saturday morning.
“We saw the latest statement from TikTok. This is a stunt and there is no reason for TikTok or any other company to take action in the days leading up to the Trump administration taking office on Monday,” she said. Ta.
“We have stated our position clearly and openly, and it will be up to the next administration to take action to implement this law. As such, TikTok and other companies should take on board any concerns.” she stated.
Under U.S. law, the president can grant an extension if he certifies to Congress that there is a path to a sale, “significant progress” has been made toward its implementation, and legal agreements are in place to do so. I can. However, no binding legal agreement has been made public.
TikTok CEO Shou Chiu, who is scheduled to attend Trump’s inauguration on Monday, praises Trump’s support after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a law banning the app. I posted a video.
“I want to thank President Trump for his commitment to working with us to find a solution to keep TikTok available in the United States,” he said. “This is a strong position in support of the First Amendment and against arbitrary censorship.”
