After the Supreme Court upheld on Friday the law forcing TikTok’s parent company to divest the popular social media app or face a ban in the United States, President-elect Donald Trump said he would take time to consider his options after previously calling for a delay so he could negotiate a solution to save the app.
“The Supreme Court’s decision was expected, and everyone must respect it. My decision on TikTok will be made in the not too distant future, but I must have time to review the situation. Stay tuned!” Trump posted to his social media platform Truth Social.
Negotiate a solution
Last month, Trump called on the Supreme Court to delay its decision on the TikTok legislation that would force the company to separate from its Chinese parent or face a forced ban from U.S. app stores. The president-elect’s legal team formally intervened in the case, urging the justices for a delay until after his inauguration so that he can negotiate a solution to save the app.
Trump attorney D. John Sauer said the incoming president holds the “electoral mandate, and the political will to negotiate a resolution to save the platform while addressing the national security concerns,” Just the News previously reported.
“In light of these interests – including, most importantly, his overarching responsibility for the United States’ national security and foreign policy – President Trump opposes banning TikTok in the United States at this juncture, and seeks the ability to resolve the issues at hand through political means once he takes office,” Sauer wrote in a brief.
President Joe Biden has given Trump an opening, promising not to enforce the TikTok ban legislation on his way out of the Oval Office even though he signed the legislation which was passed overwhelmingly by the House and Senate just over six months ago.
“Given the sheer fact of timing, this Administration recognizes that actions to implement the law simply must fall to the next Administration, which takes office on Monday,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement, according to NBC News.
Tight timing
With this opening, it is not immediately clear how Trump can proceed in order to delay the legislation, which takes effect on Sunday. Though Biden and Trump may direct the executive branch not to enforce the ban passed by Congress, the severe fines levied on app stores for hosting the video platform may encourage companies like Apple to remove it.
Apple did not respond to a request for comment from Just the News.
The Trump team has reportedly discussed using an Executive Order to delay the enforcement of the law to buy time for a negotiation with TikTok. An executive order like this would likely be challenged in court.
The Trump transition team did not respond to an inquiry from Just the News about the other options the president-elect may be considering or whether the president-elect agrees with the end goal of the legislation—seeing China-based ByteDance sell TikTok.
Other incoming administration officials and congressional leaders suggested Trump could invoke a provision of the legislation that allows 90-day extension to be called by the president.
Secretary of State nominee Marco Rubio, who has been a fierce critic of TikTok, said Trump has the authority to waive it for 90 days, Punchbowl reported.
The CEO of TikTok, Shou Chew, thanked president-elect Trump on Friday for his efforts and called the efforts to force a sale of his company censorship. Chew is also slated to attend the ceremony on Monday and sponsor a $50,000 inauguration party honoring Trump campaign influencers.
“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,” he said in a video posted to TikTok. “This is a strong stand for the First Amendment and against arbitrary censorship.”
“We are grateful and pleased to have the support of a president who truly understands our platform — one who has used TikTok to express his own thoughts and perspectives, connecting with the world and generating more than 60 billion views of his content in the process,” Chew said in the video.
Proponents of forced TikTok say that TikTok and its parent company are solely to blame for the ban, since the companies prefer to preserve ties rather than ceding the app—and its special algorithm—to an American buyer.
Using the app safely
Former Republican Congressman Mike Gallagher, who was chairman of the House’s special China committee and was a leading congressional voice critical of TikTok, said their goal was not to “ban TikTok” but to “allow Americans to use the app safe from Chinese Communist Party control.”
“Today, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld that effort while soundly rejecting TikTok’s Orwellian position that protecting the First Amendment somehow violates the First Amendment,” Gallagher posted to X on Friday.
“Had ByteDance spent as much time pursuing a divestment as it had trying to manipulate our political system, the threat of TikTok vanishing on Sunday would not exist. If the app goes dark, ByteDance will have no one to blame but itself,” he continued.
Congressional Republicans reiterated their support for the legislation after the Supreme Court’s ruling and expressed hope that Trump would enforce the ban.
“Hopefully they’ll figure out a way to get it sold,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told Politico. Asked whether Trump would enforce the ban prescribed by the law, Thune said, “I would think so.”
The Supreme Court’s decision follows years of political wrangling over the Chinese-owned social media app which took America by storm in 2016. It quickly became popular, but also ignited national security and data privacy concerns.
After initially spearheading an effort to ban the platform from the United States in 2020, President-elect Trump has changed his tune after using the app successfully in the 2024 election. He suggested in December that he could permit TikTok to remain operating in the U.S. and previously said that he has a “warm spot” in his “heart” for the platform.
In the lead up to the Supreme Court’s decision on Friday, Trump insisted that the TikTok ban should be delayed so that his new administration could negotiate a solution. However, the legislation is designed to take effect on Sunday, Jan. 19, just one day before the inauguration.
Security and privacy concerns about the app have simmered in Washington for year, spurred by the China-based parent company ByteDance’s close relationship with the Chinese Communist Party.
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