President-elect Trump’s recent statements in support of TikTok have sparked speculation that he may find a way to help the app avoid a U.S. ban.
“We should keep TikTok around a bit longer,” President-elect Donald Trump said on December 22 while speaking to supporters in Phoenix, Arizona. Just days earlier, Trump had met with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
TikTok is nearing a deadline to sever ties with its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, or face a ban in the U.S. The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversaries-Controlled Applications (PAFACA) Act, signed by President Joe Biden in April, sets the deadline for January 19, 2025, just one day before Trump’s inauguration.
Trump joined TikTok in June during his presidential campaign, and on December 16, he acknowledged that the platform helped him connect with a large base of young voters and secure victory. Sources say Trump told Shou Zi Chew he has "a warm spot in his heart for TikTok." These actions have fueled speculation that Trump might intervene to save TikTok before the deadline, allowing the platform to continue its operations in the U.S.
TikTok has several potential escape routes, and Trump’s upcoming administration could play a pivotal role, according to Sarah Kreps, Director of the Cornell Tech Policy Institute. Kreps noted that when Trump takes office on January 20, 2025, he could pursue a number of options. “If he wants to save TikTok, Trump could ask Congress to overturn the ban. But I don’t think that would be easy,” she said.
PAFACA is one of the rare laws passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in both the Republican-controlled House and the Democrat-controlled Senate. U.S. officials and lawmakers worry that the Chinese government could exert influence over ByteDance or gain access to American user data. Therefore, even with a Republican majority in the new Congress, it’s unlikely lawmakers would align with Trump on this issue.
“He could also instruct the Department of Justice not to enforce PAFACA and signal to Apple and Google that they won’t face prosecution. But I don’t think that scenario is feasible either,” Kreps added.
Apple and Google play a significant role if the TikTok ban goes into effect, as they operate the two dominant app stores, App Store and Google Play. On December 13, leaders of the House Select Committee on China sent letters urging Apple and Google to “be prepared” to remove TikTok from their platforms by January 19, 2025.
Given both companies’ prior legal entanglements with the Department of Justice, they are unlikely to take risks for TikTok. Kreps suggested a more plausible approach would be for Trump to avoid allocating sufficient resources to enforce the ban. In this scenario, the President-elect wouldn’t overturn PAFACA but wouldn’t strictly enforce it either.
Under PAFACA, Trump would have the authority to grant TikTok a 90-day reprieve upon taking office, but this would require him to certify to Congress that significant progress had been made in divestment.
Another provision in the law allows the President to “determine that an application is no longer controlled by a foreign adversary,” which could provide a potential path forward, according to Erik Stallman, a law professor at UC Berkeley. “Trump could declare satisfaction with the U.S.-based entity TikTok has established and conclude that further divestment is unnecessary.”
Over the years of disputes with the U.S. government, TikTok has established a U.S.-based subsidiary, TikTok US Data Security, to limit ByteDance’s access to user data. American tech company Oracle oversees the storage and protection of this data. However, U.S. lawmakers remain unconvinced that these measures are sufficient.
The new administration’s Department of Justice could conclude that ByteDance has resolved national security concerns, but such a move would likely be seen by Congress as a concession to China. Meanwhile, TikTok has been attempting to defend itself through legal avenues. In May, TikTok and ByteDance filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government in the federal appellate court for the District of Columbia, alleging that the U.S. violated the First Amendment of the Constitution by restricting freedom of speech. They also argued that a forced divestment is “commercially, technologically, and legally unfeasible.”
On December 13, the appellate court rejected TikTok and ByteDance’s request as “baseless.” The companies appealed to the Supreme Court on December 16, asking it to halt PAFACA while deliberations proceed, potentially for several months. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case, with arguments scheduled to begin on January 10, 2025, raising the likelihood of a temporary suspension of PAFACA.
ByteDance’s final option would be to comply with PAFACA by selling TikTok to a non-Chinese buyer. However, TikTok has repeatedly rejected this approach. With approximately 170 million monthly users in the U.S., the scale of TikTok’s operations demands significant resources from any potential buyer, leaving few viable candidates.
A senior Republican lawmaker recently suggested that Trump could mediate a “deal of the century” to reconcile American and ByteDance interests. However, any agreement would require China’s approval, which is unlikely given the anticipated tensions between Beijing and Washington during Trump’s presidency.
“The current situation is highly complex, as Trump is extremely unpredictable,” said Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond in Virginia.
(Sources: AFP, CBS News)
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