Home Tech Donald Trump Reportedly Weighing Delaying TikTok Ban

Donald Trump Reportedly Weighing Delaying TikTok Ban

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Donald Trump Reportedly Weighing Delaying TikTok Ban

Donald Trump is considering lifting the US ban on TikTok via executive order when he enters the White House on January 20, according to a report.

The president-elect is exploring an executive order that would postpone enforcement of a sales or ban law set to take effect Jan. 19. said the Washington Post. The report adds, however, that Trump’s legal grounds for suspending a law passed by Congress are questionable.

Under the terms of the law, the U.S. operation of the short video app must be sold by its Chinese owners by Sunday. If a sale does not occur, new users will not be able to download TikTok from the app stores.

However, TikTok is preparing to completely shut down the app to American users on Sunday unless the supreme court intervenes to block the law, according to technology news site Information.

Citing anonymous sources familiar with the deliberations, the Washington Post reported Wednesday that Trump and his team were considering an executive order that would suspend enforcement of the law for 60 to 90 days. The Supreme Court is also due to rule on whether the law should be allowed to proceed, although a hearing last week indicated it is unlikely to stand in the way of the legislation.

Trump said last month that “I have a warm place in my heart for TikTok” and asked the Supreme Court to halt implementation of the law so he can pursue a “political resolution” once he is in office. Congress voted to ban the app, owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, over concerns that the Chinese state could access the data of its 170 million American users.

“TikTok itself is a fantastic platform,” Trump’s incoming national security adviser, Mike Waltz, told Fox News on Wednesday. “We’re going to find a way to preserve it but protect people’s data.”

Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond in Virginia, said Trump could try to extend the deadline for TikTok to complete a transaction.

“Once Trump is president, he could attempt to avoid a ban by seeking an extension of time to consummate a ‘deal’ that would allow TikTok to operate in the United States by implementing a qualified divestiture,” he said.

The New York Times also reported that TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, He has been invited to Trump’s inauguration and will occupy “a position of honor.”

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NBC, the American broadcaster, reported that the Biden administration has been weighing options to keep the social media platform open beyond Sunday, in an attempt to defer the decision to Trump.

“Americans should not expect TikTok to be suddenly banned on Sunday,” an administration official told NBC.

Shares of rival social media site Snap fell nearly 4% in trading Thursday as traders anticipated a possible respite for TikTok in the United States.

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