TikTok's Fate is Now Firmly in Donald Trump's Hands

The outgoing Biden Administration has decided to not enforce a law that would end up banning TikTok in the United States, even as the China-owned app plans to go dark for its American users on Sunday.

A Biden official told US broadcaster ABC News on Friday that “given the timing” of when the law goes into effect, the White House will not take any action to implement it.

That would leave the fate of TikTok in the US firmly in the hands of incoming president Donald Trump, who has previously said the wildly popular, but embattled, app was “worth keeping around a little while longer.”

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“Our position on this has been clear: TikTok should continue to operate under American ownership,” the White House official told ABC News.

“Given the timing of when [the law] goes into effect over a holiday weekend a day before inauguration, it will be up to the next administration to implement,” a White House official told ABC News in a statement.

TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance had time until Sunday to sell the app’s US operations in order to prevent it from being banned, after Biden signed the divest-or-ban law in April.

The firm, along with TikTok and some of the app’s users, contested the law in US courts on grounds that it violated ‘freedom of speech’, but with no success.

Their most recent challenge, filed in the US Supreme Court, is widely expected to be struck down as well. It is unclear whether the court will issue a ruling in the case on Friday.

Unlikely supporters

Without a reprieve from the apex court, TikTok will face a certain ban in the US. Despite that, the Biden Administration’s decision to not enforce the law it has aggressively pursued so far, likely comes on the back of increasing calls from US lawmakers to extend the ban deadline.

A growing number of US officials, including many who fiercely support the divest-or-ban law, say ByteDance should have more time to sell the app.

One such lawmaker, top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer, said Democrats tried to pass a bill extending the ban deadline to find a solution to 270 days.

“It’s clear that more time is needed to find an American buyer and not disrupt the lives and livelihoods of millions of Americans,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. The social media app is used by at least 170 million Americans.

“I will work with the Trump administration and with both parties to keep TikTok alive while protecting our national security,” Schumer said.

Trump the ‘deal maker’

Meanwhile, Trump’s incoming national security adviser — Representative Mike Waltz — also said the new Republican administration will keep TikTok alive in the US if there is a viable deal.

“We will put measures in place to keep TikTok from going dark,” Waltz told Fox News, pointing to a provision in the law allowing for a 90-day extension if there is “significant progress” toward a divestiture.

“Essentially that buys President Trump time to keep TikTok going,” Waltz said.

Trump once supported a ban on the app but changed his stance last year. Last month he said TikTok had a “warm spot in his heart,” due to the app’s outsized role in winning him the youth vote.

The New York Times reported Trump is considering an executive order that would seek to allow TikTok to continue operating despite a pending legal ban until new owners are found. It was not immediately clear if Trump has the authority to do so given the legal divestiture requirements imposed by Congress.

A spokeswoman for the Trump transition, Karoline Leavitt, said: “President Trump has repeatedly expressed his desire to save TikTok, and there’s no better deal maker than Donald Trump.”

In a sign of warming ties between Trump and TikTok, the video app’s CEO, Shou Zi Chew, will attend the presidential inauguration on January 20 and be seated on the dais among other high-profile invitees, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

TikTok may still go dark

Despite the surprising support from unlikely quarters, it remains unclear if TikTok will remain online without a formal extension.

ByteDance has repeatedly maintained that a divestiture from TikTok US is not an option, and that the Chinese government will not allow such a move.

But media reports early this week indicated that the Chinese government had now taken the reins of TikTok’s future, with officials discussing a potential sale to billionaire Elon Musk. TikTok has denied those reports.

Still, people familiar with the matter told Reuters that TikTok planned to shut its US operations unless it gets a last-minute reprieve.

If it goes dark, TikTok plans that users attempting to open the app will see a pop-up message directing them to a website with information about the ban, the people said.

The sources said the shutdown aims to protect TikTok service providers from legal liability and make it easier to resume operations if President-elect Donald Trump opted to roll back any ban.

If the ban gets reversed later, TikTok would be able to restore service for US users in a relatively short time, sources said.

Reuters, with additional editing and inputs from Vishakha Saxena

Vishakha Saxena

Vishakha Saxena is the Multimedia and Social Media Editor at Asia Financial. She has worked as a digital journalist since 2013, and is an experienced writer and multimedia producer. As a trader and investor, she is keenly interested in new economy, emerging markets and the intersections of finance and society. You can write to her at [email protected]