By Brendan Scanland
WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump signed a slew of executive orders on his first day in office, Monday. One of them is keeping TikTok up and running despite a federal ban that took effect on Jan. 19.
Trump’s order will delay enforcement of the ban on the popular social media app for 75 days. The ban was passed by Congress and signed by former President Joe Biden last year. The law banning the app in the U.S. gave TikTok until Jan. 19 to cut ties from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, or else be banned.
The app briefly went dark last weekend before going live again Sunday afternoon.
“On behalf of everyone at TikTok and all our users across the country, I want to thank President Trump for his commitment to work with us to find a solution that keeps TikTok available in the United States,” said TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, when the app went live after a brief shutdown.
President Trump’s order did not change or reverse the law. The law is still in effect, just not being enforced, yet. The clock is ticking for a U.S. buyer to step in.
“The U.S. should be entitled to get half of TikTok,” said President Trump, who is floating the idea of the U.S. brokering a deal for 50% control of TikTok.
It’s not clear if TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance is fully on board.
Trump said the app’s future was among several topics discussed during a phone call between he and China President Xi Jinping on Friday.
Trump has previously supported blocking the app but has recently shown support for keeping it, often citing its popularity among the young voters who showed up in his favor at the ballot box last November.
When asked by reporters Tuesday evening why he reversed his stance on TikTok, Trump said it’s because he’s gotten the chance to use it.
According to the Pew Research Center, about 4 in 10 young adults receive their news regularly on TikTok.
Trump said Monday that he has the right to make a deal between the app and a potential U.S. buyer. It remains unclear who the buyer could be. Some big names have expressed interest in purchasing the app, like YouTube and TikTok star MrBeast. Elon Musk’s name has also been floated.
When asked by reporters if he was open to Elon Musk buying TikTok, Trump replied “I would be if he wanted to buy it.”
Some lawmakers on Capitol Hill have expressed opposition to any kind of extension for the app’s ban. Senators Tom Cotton (R- AR) and Pete Ricketts (R- NE) have spoken out against Trump’s extension.
“Now that the law has taken effect, there’s no legal basis for any kind of ‘extension’ of its effective date. For TikTok to come back online in the future, ByteDance must agree to a sale that satisfies the law’s qualified-divestiture requirements by severing all ties between TikTok and Communist China,” said Cotton and Ricketts in a joint statement on Jan. 19.
“The President is going to have to become more serious about finding a resolution to these issues. We want to keep TikTok up but we have to resolve the national security issues,” said Sen. Ed Markey (D- MA).
