U.S. President Donald Trump signed on Monday an executive order seeking to delay the enforcement of the TikTok ban by 75 days. The ban on the popular short video app was set to begin on January 19.
The order directs the attorney general to refrain from enforcing the law to permit Trump’s administration an opportunity to determine the appropriate course of action with respect to TikTok.
In addition, it directs the Department of Justice to issue letters to companies like Apple, Google and Oracle that work with TikTok, stating that there has been no violation of the statute and that there is no liability for any conduct that occurred during the specified period.
App shuts down for around 14 hours
The Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act was passed with broad support in Congress and was signed in April by former President Joe Biden. The law required that starting January 19, TikTok be banned in the United States unless it sells to a buyer from America or one of its allies.
“The unfortunate timing of section 2(a) of the Act — one day before I took office as the 47th President of the United States — interferes with my ability to assess the national security and foreign policy implications of the Act’s prohibitions before they take effect,” Trump said.
The app shut down for around 14 hours on Saturday night and Sunday, going back online on Sunday afternoon. In a statement, the company thanked the incoming president for “providing the necessary clarity and assurance” and said it would work with Trump “on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the U.S.”
Trump, who had previously backed a ban on the platform, promised on Sunday to delay the implementation of the law and allow more time for a deal to be made. TikTok then said that it was in the process of “restoring service”.
TikTok ban timeline
In his first term in the White House, Trump issued an executive order effectively banning TikTok, saying the app’s data collection “threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information” and could enable Beijing to “build dossiers of personal information for blackmail, and conduct corporate espionage.”
In April 2024, Biden signed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which passed Congress with broad bipartisan support. The bill bans the video app unless it is sold to a buyer from the United States or one of its allies.
One month later, TikTok and its China-based owner, ByteDance, sued the U.S. government, claiming that the new law violates TikTok users’ First Amendment rights.
Following the ban on Sunday, Trump wrote on Truth Social that he has spoken to Chinese President Xi Jinping and that they discussed TikTok. Trump also wrote “My decision on TikTok will be made in the not-too-distant future, but I must have time to review the situation. Stay tuned!”
Read: TikTok resumes services for 170 million U.S. users after Trump promises executive order
Will Trump ban TikTok again?
Trump could still face challenges from his own party. Republican Senators Tom Cotton of Arkansas, and Pete Ricketts of Nebraska, said in a joint statement pm Sunday that they oppose any extension of the ban.
The only options now are to either sell TikTok to a new buyer or pass a new law reversing the old one. ByteDance previously said that it has no intention of selling. In addition, passing a new law seems highly unlikely since the existing bill had such broad bipartisan support in Congress.
