US President-elect Donald Trump is expected to intervene to prevent TikTok from being banned this weekend, according to Republican Congressman Mike Waltz, as multiple efforts emerge to keep the popular social media platform running.
The Florida congressman said Trump would act if the Supreme Court upholds legislation requiring Chinese owner ByteDance to sell the platform by 19 January or face a US ban.
ByteDance has indicated it will shut down TikTok for its 170 million US users by Sunday rather than sell the platform, though Waltz noted the law permits a 90-day extension if significant progress is made towards a sale.
“We will put measures in place to keep TikTok from going dark,” Waltz said on Thursday.
The outgoing Biden administration is also exploring options to prevent TikTok’s sudden disappearance, NBC News reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter.
The legislation, signed by President Biden last April as part of an aid package for Ukraine and Israel, would require app stores to remove TikTok and block updates, which analysts say would gradually render the platform unusable.
Trump has asked the Supreme Court to delay the ban, which would take effect one day before his inauguration, to allow time for a “political” solution. The New York Times reported that Trump has invited TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew to attend his inauguration ceremony next Monday.
Both ByteDance and TikTok deny links to the Chinese government and have ruled out selling the platform, which faces the ban over national security concerns about potential data collection by the Chinese Communist Party.
The Supreme Court, which heard TikTok and ByteDance’s arguments against the law last week, is expected to issue its ruling imminently.
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