The President-elect of the United States, Donald Trump, said on Saturday that he will “most likely” give TikTok an additional 90 days to negotiate a deal that would allow the popular video platform to avoid a ban in the country.
During an interview with NBC News, Trump pointed out that he had not decided what to do, but he was considering granting TikTok a reprieve after assuming the presidency on Monday. A law that prohibits mobile app stores and internet hosting services from distributing TikTok to users in the United States goes into effect on Sunday.
According to the law approved by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden last year, the Chinese-based parent company of TikTok, ByteDance, had nine months to sell the US operation of the platform to an authorized buyer. The law allows the sitting president to grant an extension if a sale is in progress.
"I think it would certainly be an option we would consider. The 90-day extension is something that will most likely happen, because it is appropriate. You know, it's appropriate," Trump told "Meet the Press" host Kristen Welker in a phone interview. "We have to carefully review it. It's a very big situation."
"If I decide to do that, I will probably announce it on Monday," he added.
The United States Supreme Court unanimously confirmed on Friday a federal law that bans TikTok in the country starting on Sunday unless the social network is sold by its China-based parent company, arguing that the national security risk posed by its ties to China outweighs concerns about limiting the expression of the app or its 170 million users in the United States.
A sale does not seem imminent, and although experts have said that the app will not disappear from existing users' phones once the law comes into effect on January 19, new users will not be able to download it and updates will not be available. That will eventually make the app unviable, indicated the Department of Justice in court documents.