Trump considers reprieve for TikTok

President-elect Donald Trump said Saturday that he “most likely” would give TikTok 90 more days to work out a deal that would allow the popular video-sharing platform to avoid a U.S. ban.

Trump said in an NBC News interview that he had not decided what to do but was considering granting TikTok a reprieve after he is sworn into office on Monday. A law that prohibits mobile app stores and internet hosting services from distributing TikTok to U.S. users takes effect on Sunday.

Under the law passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden last year, TikTok’s China-based parent company had nine months to sell the platform’s U.S. operation to an approved buyer. The law allows the sitting president to grant an extension if a sale is in progress.

“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,” Trump told “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker in a phone interview. “We have to look at it carefully. It’s a very big situation.

“If I decide to do that, I’ll probably announce it on Monday,” he said.

Both White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco made clear Friday that the Biden administration would leave the law’s implementation to Trump given that his inauguration falls the day after the ban takes effect.

In a statement later Friday, TikTok asked for “a definitive statement” saying the Biden administration would not enforce the law or try to fine app store operators like Apple and Google and other U.S. companies if they don’t stop making TikTok available Sunday.

Without those assurances, TikTok said it “will be forced to go dark.” But the company did not provide details, including whether it would voluntarily shut down its U.S. platform at midnight or suspend its operations after losing access to service providers it relies on.

The White House on Saturday called TikTok’s statement “a stunt.”

“We see no reason for TikTok or other companies to take actions in the next few days before the Trump administration takes office on Monday,” Jean-Pierre said. “We have laid out our position clearly and straightforwardly: actions to implement this law will fall to the next administration. So TikTok and other companies should take up any concerns with them.”

Published by Time Magazine