Biden to Leave the Fate of TikTok in the Hands of Trump

Fri Jan 17 2025
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Key points

  • Last year Biden signed a law asking TikTok to divest by January 19
  • Democrats on Wednesday tried to pass legislation extending the deadline
  • Tom Cotton blocked the legislation by calling TikTok Chinese spy app
  • Trump accepted TikTok helped him in his election campaign

WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden will not enforce a TikTok ban set to take effect a day before he leaves office on Monday, a US official said Thursday. He leaves its fate in the hands of President-elect Donald Trump.

According to Arab News, Congress, last year, in a law signed by Biden asked that TikTok’s China-based parent company ByteDance divest the app by January 19.

The official said the outgoing administration was leaving the implementation of the law — and the potential enforcement of the ban — to Trump.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal Biden administration thinking.

Trump, once the proponent of the ban, has since pledged to keep it operative in the US, however, his transition team has not made it clear how they intend to accomplish that.

Shou Zi Chew, TikTok’s CEO, is expected to be present at Trump’s inauguration along with granting a prime seating location on the podium as the president-elect’s national security adviser indicates that the incoming administration may take steps to “keep TikTok from going dark.”

“It is clear that more time is needed to find an American buyer and not disrupt the lives and livelihoods of millions of Americans, of so many influencers who have built up a good network of followers,” Schumer said Thursday on the Senate floor.

Legislation blockade

Democrats on Wednesday attempted to pass legislation that could have extended the deadline, but Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas blocked it. Cotton, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, expressed that TikTok has had a lot of time to find a buyer.

“TikTok is a Chinese Communist spy app that addicts our kids, harvests their data, targets them with harmful and manipulative content, and spreads communist propaganda,” Cotton said.

The Supreme Court, last week, heard arguments in a legal challenge to the statute brought by TikTok and users of the app. The Justices seemed, from those arguments, likely to uphold the law.

Deal maker

“If the Supreme Court comes out with a ruling in favour of the law, President Trump has been very clear: Number one, TikTok is a great platform that many Americans use and has been great for his campaign and getting his message out. But number two, he’s going to protect their data,” Waltz said on Wednesday.

“He’s a deal maker. I don’t want to get ahead of our executive orders, but we’re going to create this space to put that deal in place,” he added.

Trump joined TikTok during his 2024 presidential election campaign and his team used it to link with younger voters by pushing content that was often macho and aimed at going viral.

During the campaign, he pledged to “save TikTok”, and has accepted the platform to help him win more youth votes.

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