Donald Trump said he would issue an executive order to allow TikTok to continue operating if elected president. TikTok is now resuming service in the United States.
The company shut down late Saturday ahead of a Sunday deadline to divest its Chinese shareholders or face a ban, but resumed operations on Sunday, the day before Trump was inaugurated, saying it had received appropriate assurances from the president-elect.
TikTok has been under threat from a U.S. federal law that would require its U.S. arm to relinquish its ownership in China (the app is controlled by Beijing-based ByteDance Inc.) by January 19 over concerns that the Chinese government could Access users’ personal data and manipulate their users’ personal data. Powerful algorithms determine what users see. If ByteDance does not complete the deal by January 19, the legislation would prohibit companies such as Apple, Google or Oracle from distributing or maintaining the app, amounting to a de facto ban.
TikTok said last week it would "shut down" if the outgoing Biden administration failed to provide assurances. A vague statement from the Biden White House saying it was up to Trump to enforce the ban was deemed insufficient, and TikTok ended operations.
Trump subsequently posted on his Truth Social platform that he would issue an executive order to extend the time the legal provisions are in effect and that he would not be responsible for any company that "helped prevent TikTok from getting into trouble ahead of my order." responsibility.
TikTok believes it has received enough clarity from the incoming administration, saying on Sunday that Trump has "assured our service providers that they will not face any penalties for providing TikTok to more than 170 million Americans." ” and services will be restored.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew has denied Chinese government involvement in the app, saying ByteDance is not "an agent of China or any other country."
The law allows for an extension if there are signs of progress in deal talks to sell TikTok's U.S. operations to non-Chinese owners, but it's unclear whether that will happen after January 19.
The Supreme Court upheld the law, which passed Congress with support from Republicans and Democrats and was approved by Biden.
Republican lawmakers said companies affected by the legislation must comply with the bill and warned anyone who violated it would face "devastating bankruptcy."
"Now that the law is already in effect, there is no legal basis to 'extend' its effective date," Senators Pete Ricketts and Tom Cotton said in a joint statement. In order for TikTok to come back online in the future, ByteDance must agree to a sale that satisfies legally qualified divestiture requirements by severing all ties between TikTok and communist China.”
Apple, Google and Oracle have been contacted for comment.
Trump said in his Truth Social post that he wanted the United States to have "50% ownership" in the TikTok "joint venture."
He said ByteDance would likely remain involved, the joint venture could be between "the current owners and/or new owners," and the U.S. would get "a deal between the U.S. and any acquisition (sic) we choose." 50% ownership of the joint venture”.
It's unclear what 50% U.S. ownership means. Beijing-based ByteDance is already 60% owned by non-Chinese investors, including U.S.-based BlackRock and General Atlantic, according to TikTok.
During his first term as president, Trump tried to ban TikTok through an executive order on security grounds, but failed after successfully filing a lawsuit.
Last month, he said "I have a warm place in my heart for TikTok," where he has 14.9 million followers.
Billionaire Trump ally and Republican donor Jeff Yass is also a major investor in ByteDance. Yass, a libertarian who supports free speech and has a reported 15% stake in his financial trading firm Susquehanna International Group, described the TikTok ban as "a curse on everything I believe in."
Trump said Yas "never mentioned" TikTok during their meeting last year.
The incoming US president also expressed his dissatisfaction with Facebook and Instagram owner Mark Zuckerberg's Meta regarding TikTok. “Facebook and Zuckerschmuck would double their business if they got rid of TikTok,” he posted on Truth Social last year.
In recent weeks, Mehta has tried to close the gap with Trump by relaxing moderate guidelines and appointing former George W. Bush White House official Joel Kaplan to a senior role.
In 2023, the Chinese government stated that it would "firmly oppose" any forced sale of TikTok and that the transaction would need to be approved by the Chinese government.
On Monday, China's Foreign Ministry expressed a more open stance, saying companies should "independently decide" their operations and transactions.
In signs that Beijing is trying to influence the outcome, reports this month suggested that Chinese officials had discussed selling TikTok's U.S. unit to Elon Musk or using the Tesla CEO as a tool to rescue the company. Platform trading broker. TikTok described reports of a possible sale to Musk as "pure fiction."