Trump mulls executive order to save TikTok
US President-elect Donald Trump said Wednesday afternoon that he would consider extending ByteDance’s deadline to divest from its TikTok app by either 60 or 90 days.
Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Follow us
US President-elect Donald Trump said late Wednesday afternoon that he would consider extending ByteDance’s deadline to divest from its TikTok app by either 60 or 90 days.
With the stroke of a pen, Donald Trump could save TikTok from being shut down in the US.
The soon-to-be 47th US President said he was contemplating an executive order that would suspend the enforcement of the TikTok sell-or-ban law for 60 to 90 days, according to a report by the Washington Post.
This would give 170 million Americans – already preparing for a TikTok shut-down this coming Sunday – until March or April to continue using the short video platform. It would also give parent company ByteDance more time to procure a possible buyer for the data-collecting app.
Trump, who last month declared he was rethinking the ban he once supported, confessed to finding “a warm spot in his heart” for the Chinese app. Presumably, due to the 14.7 million followers accumulated on his TikTok account, which saw "billions and billions of views" in the run-up to the 2024 US Presidential elections.
The deadline for the Chinese-owned ByteDance to divest its subsidiary is Sunday, January 19th, only one day before Trump's inauguration ceremony.
In the meantime, TikTok users in droves have been seeking app alternatives, downloading similar social media platforms such as Rednote and Lemon8, possibly unaware they are also Chinese-owed apps with questionable ties to the Communist regime.
Since its free speech vs. national security Supreme Court showdown with the federal government last Friday, it's been reported that TikTok has already been proactively planning to shut down the app for all US users on Sunday.
