Donald Trump will “most likely” extend the looming TikTok ban by 90 days, the President-elect told “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker via phone interview Saturday.
“I think that would be, certainly, an option that we look at. The 90-day extension is something that will be most likely done, because it’s appropriate. You know, it’s appropriate. We have to look at it carefully. It’s a very big situation,” he explained.
Trump added that he will announce his decision Monday.
The possibility of a 90-day extension “is explicitly allowed for in the bipartisan law passed last year,” NBC News noted, but Trump’s statement will not stop the app from going dark Sunday.
This week TikTok’s owners announced they will shut down the app for American users on Jan. 19. This goes one step beyond the law the Supreme Court upheld Friday. The law bans new downloads from Apple’s App Store and the Google Play app store, and also makes it “unlawful” to update the app.
“The Administration, like the rest of the country, has awaited the decision just made by the U.S. Supreme Court on the TikTok matter,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement Friday. “President Biden’s position on TikTok has been clear for months, including since Congress sent a bill in overwhelming, bipartisan fashion to the President’s desk: TikTok should remain available to Americans, but simply under American ownership or other ownership that addresses the national security concerns identified by Congress in developing this law.”
“Given the sheer fact of timing, this Administration recognizes that actions to implement the law simply must fall to the next Administration, which takes office on Monday,” the statement concluded.
Thursday afternoon the Biden administration also indicated they will leave TikTok’s fate up to incoming President Trump. “Our position on this has been clear: TikTok should continue to operate under American ownership. Given the timing of when it 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.
President Joe Biden signed the law banning TikTok from the U.S. last April. The chief concern American lawmakers say they have with TikTok is that it could double as a spyware app for the Chinese communist government; TikTok, per Chinese law, is required to share user data if asked to do so.
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