President-elect Donald Trump is weighing options to block an imminent ban on the popular Chinese app TikTok. The company’s Chinese owners face a January deadline to divest their stake in it or forfeit access to the US market. So far, Trump hasn’t said how he might intervene to save TikTok.
In June, Trump supported the platform, saying, “I’m gonna save TikTok” in one of his early videos on the app. According to a report from the Washington Post, quoting people close to the matter, Trump believes that the platform has enormous reach and clout, which is instrumental for his campaign strategy through innovative use of social media.
Kellyanne Conway, who ran Trump’s first presidential campaign, struck a more conciliatory tone: “There are ways to make China pay without hurting the 180 million American users per month. “She added that Trump has cast himself as an opponent of the Democrats’ “ban everything” mentality-one to which TikTok would simply be the latest addition.
The would-be ban resulted from bipartisan national security concerns and China’s influence. Those close to Trump’s advisors say that he can move to save TikTok, which would be a significant change in US policy on the application. Current legislation requires TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, to divest ownership by January 19, a day before Trump’s inauguration.
Trump might look for ways to delay the implementation or try legislative means to weaken the law and request his attorney general not to enforce this ban. Thirdly, the new administration might also look again at ByteDance’s earlier offer called “Project Texas,”-which would have given the US government significant control over TikTok’s operations and staff as a way of compromising its way out of a ban.
While the Biden administration had rejected this plan earlier, ByteDance said it was open to negotiations. Yet, any effort to save TikTok will likely face fierce resistance from national security hawks within Trump’s own party, like Senator Marco Rubio, who was chosen as Secretary of State and has been among those leading the charge to ban TikTok.
