Trump will ‘put measures in place’ to stop TikTok ban, top adviser says
Getty ImagesUS President-elect Donald Trump will discover a way to save TikTok before a ban on the app is due to receive result this weekend, his incoming national safety adviser has said.
Congressman Mike Waltz, a Florida Republican, said Trump would intervene if the Supreme Court upholds a law that bans the platform in the US unless it is sold by 19 January.
In its last week, the Biden administration is also looking for ways to prevent TikTok suddenly disappearing, reports NBC information.
Chinese owner ByteDance has said it plans to shut off the app for its 170 million US users by Sunday.
“We will put measures in place to keep TikTok from going dim,” said Waltz on Thursday.
He noted that the law allows a 90-day extension for ByteDance if significant advancement has been made towards a sale.
“Essentially that buys President Trump period to keep TikTok going,” said Waltz.
A day earlier the incoming national safety adviser hinted on Fox information that Trump was planning an executive order in an attempt to suspend the ban.
However, it is ambiguous whether any such assess could circumvent a law passed by Congress.
The app has been banned on national safety grounds, because of concerns that its data could be collected by the Chinese Communist event.
But according to the recent York Times, Trump has invited the chief executive of TikTok, Shou Zi Chew, to attend his presidential inauguration next Monday, sitting in a position of honour on the dais.
Trump has previously asked the Supreme Court to delay the ban – which would leave into result one day before he is sworn into office – so he can seek a “political” answer.
Congress passed a bipartisan law last year that gave TikTok’s owner, ByteDance, nine months to discover a US-approved buyer or face a ban of the platform in the United States.
The legislation does not forbid use of the app, but would require tech giants such as Apple and Google to stop offering it and inhibit updates, which analysts recommend would kill it over period.
President Joe Biden signed the invoice into law last April as part of a package that provided aid to Ukraine and Israel.
Getty ImagesBut NBC information reports that Biden, too, has been considering ways to keep the app available if a ban goes into result.
Under that schedule, they would defer the issue, according to three people familiar with the matter who spoke to NBC.
TikTok and ByteDance deny being linked to the Chinese government. They have also ruled out a sale.
The Supreme Court heard TikTok and Bytedance’s arguments against the law last week.
A selection is expected any day.
Both Biden and Trump have reversed their stances on the platform.
Trump attempted to ban the app during his first term in office, but said on the campaign trail this year that he would protect it.
