With a US ban on TikTok hours away, Trump says he ‘most likely’ will grant an extension
The clock is ticking toward a U.S. ban on TikTok, but users seeking clarity on what that will mean did not get much Saturday from the company that runs the popular video-sharing platform or the tech giants that offer the TikTok app in their digital marketplaces.
However, President-elect Donald Trump said in an interview with NBC News that he was considering granting an extension that might allow TikTok to keep going beyond Sunday, when a law that prohibits mobile app stores and internet hosting services from distributing TikTok to U.S. users takes effect.
The ban’s timing has complicated matters, perhaps in TikTok’s favor: the outgoing Biden administration reiterated Saturday that it considers the law’s implementation and enforcement to be the responsibility of Trump, who takes office on Monday and has pledged to “save” the trend-setting app.
Under the law, TikTok’s China-based parent company, ByteDance, had nine months to sell the platform’s U.S. operation to an approved buyer. The law allows the sitting president to extend the deadline by 90 days if a sale is in progress.
Artificial intelligence startup Perplexity AI submitted a proposal to ByteDance on Saturday to create a new entity that merges Perplexity with TikTok U.S. business, according to a person familiar with the matter. If successful, the new structure would also include other investors and allow ByteDance’s existing shareholders to retain their stake in the company, the person said.
Perplexity is not asking to purchase the ByteDance algorithm that feeds TikTok users videos based on their interests and has made the platform such a phenomenon. The person said they believed a fair price for TikTok – without the algorithm – is north of $50 billion.
If the merger plan is successful, the algorithm would need to be rebuilt. It would also lead to more AI-powered searches on TikTok, the person said.
Other potential buyers have been eyeing TikTok. “Shark Tank” star Kevin O’Leary recently said a consortium of investors that he and billionaire Frank McCourt put together offered ByteDance $20 billion in cash.
Trump told NBC News that he “most likely” would give TikTok the extension after his inauguration. ByteDance previously said it would not sell, but TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is expected to attend Trump’s inauguration with a prime seating location.
Why is TikTok’s future in the US so unclear?
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday unanimously upheld the federal law that banned TikTok unless ByteDance divested itself of its U.S. holdings. In issuing the decision, justices rejected Trump’s request to wait until his administration could pursue a “political resolution” to the issue.
TikTok, ByteDance and some of the devoted users who rely on the platform argued the statute violated the First Amendment. The Biden administration sought to show ByteDance’s ownership and control of TikTok posed an unacceptable national security threat.
TikTok asked the Biden administration late for a “definitive statement” that would assure Google, Apple and other companies they would not face fines if they continued making its service available nationwide. Otherwise, TikTok said it “will be forced to go dark” on Sunday.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called TikTok’s demand “a stunt.”
“We see no reason for TikTok or other companies to take actions in the next few days before the Trump administration takes office,” Jean-Pierre said Saturday. TikTok did not immediately respond to requests for comment sent on Saturday.
What will happen on Sunday?
It’s not explicitly clear. Experts have said the way the law was written, current TikTok users would continue to have access to the app but wouldn’t receive updates, eventually making it unworkable.
Though the company says its platform will go dark, it did not provide details, including whether it would voluntarily shut down its U.S. platform at midnight.
Trump has credited TikTok with helping him win the support of more young voters in last year’s election, but he wasn’t always a fan. During his first term, he issued executive orders banning TikTok and the Chinese messaging app WeChat. Courts subsequently blocked the moves.
Trump told “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker in a phone interview Saturday that if he gives TikTok the 90-day extension, it will “probably” be announced on Monday.
“We have to look at it carefully. It’s a very big situation,” NBC News quoted him as saying.
How reliant are Americans on TikTok?
The majority of U.S. teenagers and a third of adults use TikTok, according to the Pew Research Center. Most people use it to watch entertaining, short-form videos. A subset of users — content creators and small business owners — rely on the platform for income.
Some past opinion polling showed a majority of Americans did not want want the app to go away. A poll conducted by The Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research in January 2024 found a three-way split among Americans when it came to banning the platform, with roughly a third favoring or opposing it or not having an opinion on the topic. Meanwhile, a Pew Research Center survey conducted in July and August said public support for a ban had declined to 32% from 50% in March 2023.
What will happen to TikTok if it gets banned?
If TikTok gets banned — and stays banned — in the U.S., it will take a big financial hit. Attorneys for the company said in court documents that even if a U.S. shutdown lasted one month, TikTok would lose 29% of its total “targeted global” advertising revenue for 2025 as well as talented current and prospective employees. However, the platform likely won’t fully go away since it remains popular abroad.
For now, the company has tried to assure its U.S. employees they can continue to come to work. Earlier this week, TikTok told its U.S. workers that its offices would remain open for work even if the “situation” were not resolved by Sunday.
In the memo, which was first reported by The New York Times and confirmed by the company, TikTok told employees that their “employment, pay and benefits” were secure, adding that the ban law was written in a way that impacts the U.S. user experience but not TikTok as an employer.
TikTok’s other troubles
The sell-or-ban law is not the only legal issue that TikTok and ByteDance encountered last year.
In October, more than a dozen states and the District of Columbia sued TikTok, alleging the app was designed to be addictive to children and harms their mental health. Virginia’s attorney general filed a lawsuit Friday making similar claims while also alleging TikTok had misled the public about the Chinese government’s ability to misuse information about American users.
Other nations also have taken action to restrict or penalize TikTok.
On Dec. 30, Venezuela’s Supreme Court fined TikTok $10 million for “not implementing measures” to prevent viral video challenges that government officials alleged had led to the deaths of three Venezuelan children last year.
Albania’s prime minister announced earlier in December that his government would shut down TikTok for one year because the platform allegedly incited violence and bullying, especially among children.
Also last month, European Union regulators opened an investigation into whether TikTok breached the EU’s online safety and fairness rules by failing to prevent alleged Russian interference in Romania’s presidential election. TikTok said it had “protected the integrity” of its platform during over 150 elections around the world.
By HALELUYA HADERO
Associated Press
