On Monday, Jan. 20, Donald Trump made good on his promise of pushing back the TikTok ban via an executive order. While this order doesn’t overturn the “ban or sell” law, it has given TikTok a 75-day extension in order to give the app time to find a US-based buyer.
“I hereby order the Attorney General not to take any action on behalf of the United States to enforce the Act for 75 days from the date of this order, to permit my Administration an opportunity to determine the appropriate course of action with respect to TikTok, the order reads.
While signing the order, Trump said, “I may not do the deal, or I may do the deal. TikTok is worthless, worthless, if I don’t approve it.”
He then reiterated his previous comments on Truth Social about making TikTok a joint venture where 50% of it is owned by the US. “So I think, like a joint venture, I think we would have a joint venture with the people from TikTok. We’ll see what happens,” he added.
How Did This TikTok Ban Extension Come About?
The “ban or sell” deadline for this law was originally Jan. 19, just one day before Trump’s inauguration. While Biden’s White House said they would not enforce the ban, TikTok still went dark for a few hours. The app claimed that it didn’t get enough clarity over whether service providers would be penalized for hosting the app.
The White House, in turn, accused TikTok of pulling a “stunt.”
Stunt or not, TikTok is back in action for its 170 million US users, and at the very least, the executive order makes clear it isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
