TikTok is Given Another Chance Under Trump’s Order, But with Restrictions

Published by Shivani Bhore on

On Monday, President Donald Trump enacted an executive order aimed at postponing the enforcement of a ban on the widely-used short-video application TikTok for a period of 75 days. The ban was originally set to take effect on January 19. During the signing of the order, Trump proposed that the U.S. government should acquire a 50% stake in TikTok’s American operations as a condition for allowing the app to continue its operations. He also indicated that he might impose tariffs on China if the Chinese government did not approve a deal involving TikTok with the United States. The short-video platform, which has 170 million users in the U.S., was temporarily inaccessible to American users on Saturday, just prior to the implementation of a law requiring its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to divest its ownership on national security grounds or face a ban. U.S. officials had expressed concerns regarding the potential misuse of American users’ data under ByteDance’s ownership. Access to TikTok was restored on Sunday, with the company expressing gratitude to Trump for assuring TikTok and its business partners that they would not incur significant fines to maintain the app’s operation. While the app and website were functional on Monday, TikTok remained unavailable for download in the Apple and Google app stores. The executive order, signed shortly after Trump’s inauguration, instructs the attorney general to refrain from enforcing the law, thereby allowing the administration to assess the most suitable course of action regarding TikTok. The legality surrounding Trump’s executive order aimed at “Saving TikTok” remains ambiguous. The legislation mandating divestiture was enacted with substantial bipartisan support in Congress, endorsed by President Joe Biden, and affirmed by a unanimous decision from the Supreme Court. The executive order concluded a 48-hour period marked by legal strategies and political maneuvering, leaving millions of TikTok users in search of clarity regarding the future of their application. During the signing of the executive order on Monday evening, Trump expressed that he “could envision” the US government acquiring a 50% interest in TikTok, suggesting that this stake would enable the US to oversee the platform. He further explained that if a deal is not sanctioned by China, “there’s no value.” He questioned why, if value is created, the US should not be entitled to a significant share, asserting that the company could potentially be valued in the hundreds of billions of dollars. Historically, the US has not prohibited any major social media platform. The legislation, which received overwhelming support in Congress, grants the incoming Trump administration extensive powers to either ban or pursue the sale of other Chinese-owned applications. It would be without precedent for the US government to require an ownership interest in a significant corporation as a condition for permitting its continued operation. The directive instructs the Justice Department to send communications to companies such as Apple, Alphabet’s Google, and Oracle, which provide services to TikTok, indicating that there have been no breaches of the law and that there is no liability for actions taken during the specified timeframe. It remains uncertain whether Trump’s directive will suffice for these companies to reinstate the app in US app stores. This announcement coincided with China’s first indication that it might be amenable to a deal that would allow TikTok to continue functioning in the United States.