Trump said he would give Tik Tok an extension to avoid the ban

Open the White House Watch newspaper for free

Your guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the world

President-elect Donald Trump says he will extend the deadline for ByteDance, the owner of the video app TikTok, to impose a nationwide ban that will take effect on Sunday.

In an interview with NBC News, Trump said he was considering granting a 90-day extension to the deadline. His opinion will come after a day Tiktok The Supreme Court on Friday warned that 170mn of its consumers would soon lose electricity after upholding the blackout-or-ban legislation that Congress passed last year to address national security concerns related to China.

“The 90-day extension is probably something that can be done, because it’s appropriate,” Trump said. “We have to look at it carefully. It’s a very big situation. . . . If I decide to do it, I’ll announce it on Monday,” he said.

On Friday Trump He said he spoke with President Xi Jinping and had a chat with the Chinese leader on Tik Tok. Chinese state media said the two leaders spoke, but did not say if TikTok was part of the discussion.

The Biden administration said on Friday that it would leave decisions on implementing the law, which would take effect at midnight on Saturday, to the incoming Trump administration.

That means companies that offer video platforms — including Apple, Google and Oracle — must decide whether to risk violating the law by the midnight deadline and Trump’s order on Monday.

Apple and Oracle declined to comment, while Google did not immediately respond.

TikTok said the Biden administration’s statements “failed to provide the necessary transparency and assurance to service providers that are critical to maintaining access to TikTok for more than 170 million Americans.”

It also warned that the video app would be “blacked out” on January 19 unless the Biden administration “immediately issues a declaration of non-enforcement of critical service providers.”

In a stunning bipartisan vote last March, Congress passed legislation requiring ByteDance to remove TikTok to avoid a national ban on the app.

Lawmakers and U.S. security officials believe Chinese ownership poses a national security threat because the Chinese Communist Party could use it for espionage and disinformation. TikTok has denied that the Chinese government has any influence over the app.

During his first term in office, Trump issued an executive order to ban TikTok from operating in the US, but it was challenged by the courts at the last minute. In the year In early 2024, he came out against a congressional divestment or ban measure that would help Facebook, which he has banned from the social network for two years.

Trump has appointed a number of China hawks to his administration, including Mike Waltz, a former Green Beret and Florida congressman who serves as national security adviser, who oppose Chinese ownership of TikTok.

Earlier this week, Waltz said the incoming administration would put measures in place to protect TikTok from the blackout, allowing the legislation to be delayed while the bill remains on the table.

Following TikTok’s statement on Friday, Rush Doshi, a former top Biden administration China official, wrote on X that the company had only itself to blame.

“TikTok was shut down in China because it had 268 days to sell itself. That would have solved everything. But they didn’t even try. China will not allow them,” said Doshi.

Now, in the short term, they want Biden to ignore the bipartisan rule the SCOTUS (U.S. Supreme Court) approved 9-0. And if they close, it’s on them.”

Additional reporting by Hannah Murphy and Michael Acton