Trump adviser says president-elect exploring options to ‘preserve’ TikTok

(Adobe Stock)

TikTok inched closer to a nationwide shutdown after the Supreme Court did not rule on the ban-or-sale law targeting the app early Wednesday, leaving the platform in limbo, with President-elect Donald Trump’s vague pledge to “save” it the last likely refuge.

After oral arguments last week, most of the justices appeared inclined to uphold the law banning the social media platform if its Chinese parent company does not sell it, but with the divestiture deadline of Sunday rapidly approaching, the app’s prospects for an immediate lifeline are dwindling.

While the court is still expected to issue a ruling or order on the case this week, its continued silence has amped up the tension in years-long drama over the fate of TikTok, a platform that has captivated millions of users with its buzzy, short-form videos but triggered intense scrutiny in Washington over fears it could serve as a tool for Chinese spying or propaganda.

Further confounding the saga are the unknowns surrounding Trump, who during his first White House stint pushed for the app to be sold or banned in the United States but whose stance has softened after the app played a prominent role in his campaign to retake the White House. Trump will be sworn in Monday, a day after the ban may take hold, but his plans to aid TikTok remain hazy.

On Wednesday, the Washington Post reported that Trump is exploring unconventional ways to rescue the app, including issuing an executive order once he takes office to delay enforcement of the TikTok ban-or-sale law by 60 or 90 days. Trump has said publicly his plans will not be final until the Supreme Court weighs in.

The dynamic has left the company and officials in Washington scrambling to respond to a cascading series of possible scenarios, including the prospect that TikTok will immediately take the app offline early Sunday barring an intervention from the Supreme Court or the Biden administration, as the Information and Reuters reported it is planning. TikTok did not respond to requests for comment on its plans.

Trump as recently as this week has heaped praise on the app for helping him secure young voters during the 2024 presidential campaign and has previously questioned why he would want to “get rid” of it.

“We won young people and I think that’s a big credit to TikTok,” Trump said during a TV interview Monday. But he said his plans were in a holding pattern pending the legal review.

“I really have to wait to see what happens at the Supreme Court because nobody—nobody knows what they can do and who’s going to do it until they hear from the Supreme Court,” Trump told Newsmax this week, adding that he had a “very good experience” with the app.

Trump in December asked the court to delay implementation of the law, with his legal team suggesting in a filing that his “consummate dealmaking expertise” could help broker “a resolution to save the platform.”

But it’s unclear whether the justices will buy into the arguments for a halt, a prospect that a federal appeals court rejected late last year. If they do not, Trump will probably be powerless to stop a ban that is set to take effect on the final full day of President Joe Biden’s term.

At the Supreme Court on Wednesday, dozens of journalists flocked to the press room in anticipation of a possible decision announcement at 10 a.m. Instead, the court issued two unrelated rulings on overtime pay and a class-action lawsuit involving allegedly overpriced pet food.

Adding to the ongoing uncertainty were remarks by Pam Bondi, Trump’s attorney general pick, who declined Wednesday to commit to enforcing the ban-or-sale law during her Senate confirmation hearing. Bondi, who if confirmed would be in charge of targeting violators who carry the app on their services, told lawmakers she could not discuss pending litigation.

In lieu of an intervention by the court or by Trump, some lawmakers critical of the ban-or-sale have pressured the Biden administration to take action. Under the law, Biden has the authority until Sunday to give ByteDance a one-time, 90-day extension to try to broker a sale of the app. The maneuver would give TikTok at least temporary reprieve from a ban and could allow more prospective suitors to form bids for the company, with the goal of staving off a permanent U.S. ban.

A senior Biden administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said the president is unlikely to extend the deadline himself unless there is a significant reversal from ByteDance in their opposition to a sale and the giant is able to show significant progress toward a deal, which it so far has not.

The official said the Biden administration views the passage of the law and its defense in court as major accomplishments but that its enforcement will largely be left up to the Trump administration. The administration may begin to engage with companies tasked with implementing the ban as early as this week, but the next phase will be up to the president-elect’s team to shape, the official said.

The Justice Department declined to comment.

Under the law, app store giants Apple and Google and internet hosting services could face fines in the billions if they continue to offer updates for the app or carry the site beyond Sunday, but there are still significant questions about how exactly a ban might take effect, including whether companies could be held liable for not throttling traffic to TikTok’s website. Apple and Google have not commented on their plans.

TikTok could still stave off a ban through a sale, but ByteDance has resisted the prospect and the full array of potential TikTok suitors remains murky. One would-be investor, “Shark Tank” star Kevin O’Leary, last week flew to Mar-a-Lago to pitch Trump on a $20 billion offer he and business magnate Frank McCourt recently presented to the tech giant.

O’Leary said he went hoping Trump would affirm his desire to keep the platform “lit up” in the face of a potential ban.

“I wanted to hear it from his own lips, and that’s what he gave me,” O’Leary told the Post. “He said, ‘you know what, yeah, I’m for keeping it open.’ That’s all I needed to hear.”

He and McCourt have called for the Biden administration to extend the deadline for a sale by 90 days, which O’Leary said he told Trump should be enough to close a deal.

China poses an additional hurdle to a sale. Beijing has long opposed a forced sale of TikTok in the United States. China’s Foreign Ministry has said the law violates international trade rules and described it as an example of the United States using national security concerns to “unreasonably suppress foreign companies.”

Bloomberg this week reported that Chinese officials discussed a potential sale that would involve close Trump ally Elon Musk acquiring TikTok’s U.S. operations. But TikTok called the reports “pure fiction,” and foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun declined to comment.

O’Leary has suggested a TikTok deal could become a “negotiating tool” for Trump in his talks with China. But regardless, he said, Trump is the one primed to settle the issue.

“If he wants to make it his deal, it’s going to be his deal. Period,” he said.