According to three people involved with the talks, President Joe Biden’s administration is thinking about methods to keep TikTok accessible in the United States in the event that a ban that is set to take effect on Sunday is upheld.
According to an administration official, Americans shouldn’t anticipate TikTok being abruptly outlawed on Sunday. They are also looking at possible ways to enforce the law so that TikTok doesn’t go offline on that day.
In the event that the administration proceeds with any such scheme, the popular app’s failure would not mark his final day in office; rather, it would postpone the matter until Monday, when Donald Trump takes office.
Meanwhile, Trump’s new national security advisor, Mike Waltz, told Fox News on Wednesday that the president-elect is prepared to step in and protect the Chinese-owned video app’s availability in the US market. Additionally, when questioned about the ban during her Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday, Trump’s choice for attorney general, Pam Bondi, declined to pledge to enforce it.
When combined, the actions show that the two presidents are working in tandem to circumvent Congress and the Supreme Court, which is poised to rule on the ban at any moment.
However, if the restriction is upheld, a White House official stated that it cannot be ignored.
“Deferring enforcement is not something we are considering,” the official stated. We don’t think we have the legal authority to do it.
Trump and Biden’s stances reflect a reversal of their earlier support for the app’s ban.
Requests for comment on the idea were not answered by the Trump transition team.
TikTok is weighing its alternatives, which include the last-ditch potential that the service would go black on Sunday. However, it might also choose to keep the app running but without any upgrades or bug fixes going forward.
According to the relevant law, ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, had nine months to sell the business and find an outside buyer to take over. Sunday is the last day of that window. Additionally, if there has been substantial progress on such divestiture, the statute gave the president the power to give a one-time extension of ninety days.
The legislation was passed in the interest of national security because senators thought China may breach American data or use TikTok to censor content in order to influence Americans. TikTok has long denied the validity of such worries, and some of its users have filed a lawsuit to overturn the ban, arguing that it violates the First Amendment.
Those national security issues would remain unsolved, at least for the time being, if TikTok were granted a reprieve without a sale.
However, hordes of American TikTok users have downloaded other Chinese competitors that provide comparable security risks just days before the possible ban.
On the campaign trail last year, Trump, who attempted and failed to enact a ban during his first administration, pledged to defend TikTok. In April, Biden signed the embargo into law as part of a $95 billion package that included funding for Israel and Ukraine. However, his White House is currently trying to weaken the statute.
Longtime Biden buddy Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., is one of a few politicians who have urged the Supreme Court and the White House to halt the ban.
Khanna expressed her hope that President Biden will pay attention to the millions of voices urging him to keep the lights on this app. He can try to find a solution that keeps the app from shutting down by extending the time frame.
Additionally, Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., stated that he has requested White House officials to postpone the ban after expressing his worries about it.
He claimed that they responded by saying they would consider it, but they did not specify exactly what would happen.
In order for the incoming president to pursue a negotiated approach to avoid a TikTok shutdown, Trump filed a brief with the Supreme Court late last month requesting that it postpone enforcing that portion of the legislation. According to Trump’s lawyer John Sauer’s argument in that brief, American voters gave the president-elect a strong election mandate to defend the free expression rights of all Americans, including the 170 million TikTok users.
A few days later, Trump said, “Why would I want to get rid of TikTok?” on his Truth Social platform.
He included a figure demonstrating his extensive user base on the short-form video app, which has 170 million users in the US.
Although the Supreme Court may opt to temporarily stop the statute while still deciding against the social media business, justices did not seem to be persuaded by TikTok’s free expression arguments last week.
Chief Justice John Roberts cited a congressional ruling during the arguments that TikTok’s parent business must cooperate with intelligence gathering under Chinese law.
The ultimate parent is actually susceptible to performing espionage work for the Chinese government; are we to overlook this? He inquired.
Roberts addressed the issue of free speech by stating that Congress is unconcerned with what is posted on TikTok.
He emphasized that the legislation does not mandate that TikTok cease operations. They are arguing that TikTok must be freed from Chinese influence.
TikTok’s parent business, ByteDance, is based in Beijing, although the app’s Asia headquarters are in Singapore.
When Trump takes office, some congressional Republicans who supported the TikTok measure said they anticipate his stepping in and negotiating a sale to American interests.
Since they are required by law to divest, Trump might effectively assist by locating a buyer. According to China hawk Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Texas, who chaired the Foreign Affairs Committee when the law was passed by Congress last year, he considers himself a top negotiator. Unless he can figure out a way to sell it, I suppose it shuts down.
He went on to say that many of these influencers depend on TikTok. They have no desire to change, but Beijing controls ByteDance. It simply poses a threat to our children rather than Congress.
According to Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., TikTok has to divest if it wishes to stay in business in the United States.
He claimed that the law had already been approved by Congress. I’m expecting that TikTok’s owners will come up and declare, “We will never share American data with the Communist Party of China.” They will enforce this by divesting from the parent firm.