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Trump says TikTok probably will get a 90-day reprieve on ban

TikTok said it will be forced to “go dark” in the U.S. on Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025, unless there is a clear statement from the Biden administration to service providers that are maintaining its availability.(Dreamstime/TNS)  (TNS)
By Hannah Knowles Washington Post

President-elect Donald Trump publicly said Saturday that he will probably give TikTok a 90-day reprieve from a U.S. ban set to take effect Sunday, just before he takes office.

“I think that would be, certainly, an option that we look at,” Trump told NBC News. “The 90-day extension is something that will be most likely done, because it’s appropriate. … We have to look at it carefully. It’s a very big situation.”

Trump has said he will try to “save” TikTok from a federal law set to ban the popular social media app in the United States unless its parent company ByteDance sells the app. The Washington Post reported this week that Trump was considering an executive order that could suspend enforcement of law for 60 to 90 days and buy his administration time to prevent TikTok’s shutdown – but such a move would raise legal questions.

The president-elect told NBC he would probably announce a 90-day reprieve on Monday if he decides to go forward with it.

The ban-or-sale law passed with broad bipartisan support as lawmakers voiced concerns that the app could make Americans’ data available to the Chinese government, because ByteDance is based in China. But Trump – in a reversal from the stance of his first presidency – recently said he has a “warm spot” in his heart for the app and suggested it helped him win over young voters.

The law allows the president to grant a 90-day extension of the ban deadline if there is “evidence of significant progress” toward a sale and “binding legal agreements.” ByteDance has resisted selling, and the Chinese government has said it opposes such a move.

TikTok said late Friday that it will “go dark” in the United States on Sunday unless President Joe Biden’s administration provides a clear commitment it will not enforce the ban ahead of Trump’s return to office. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Saturday dismissed TikTok’s assertion.

“It is a stunt, and 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 in a statement.

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is among the tech executives cozying up to Trump as he retakes the White House. Chew plans to attend Trump’s “victory rally” in Washington on Sunday, The Post previously reported, and has been invited to sit on the dais Monday as Trump is sworn into office, alongside tech leaders such as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, founder and executive chair of Amazon. (Bezos owns the Washington Post.)

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Cristiano Lima-Strong contributed to this report.