As the shut down of TikTok is looming, the Biden administration states they will not enforce the ban on the app that was set to go into place on Sunday, January 19, 2025.
According to ABC News, “the Biden administration is signaling [that] it won’t enforce the law that goes into effect one day before the president leaves office.” ABC News states, “The law states the president can grant a one-time extension delaying the ban for up to 90 days…” However, the delay must meet certain conditions.
After trying to take the app down in his first administration, Trump is now crediting Tik-Tok for helping him reach younger voters in his 2024 Presidential campaign and is now trying to save it from getting banned in the U.S. According to Fox News, Mike Waltz, Trump’s pick for national security advisor, said Trump has two main beliefs: “First TikTok is a widely used platform by many Americans and has been instrumental in spreading his message… [also] he’s going to protect their data.” Trump is also reportedly going to try to use an executive order to save the app; however, ABC News reports that a majority of the Supreme Court Justices want to keep the law in place.
The law states that the Chinese company, ByteDance, that hosts TikTok, had nine months to sell the app to an American host company. According to Fox News, as the nine months are up, failure to fulfill the law leads to TikTok being “removed from U.S.-based app stores and hosting services.” The U.S. government is concerned about national security and cyber security of U.S. citizens as the popular app host is located in China. Reportedly, the app has access to users data and has influence in American politics.
TikTok is currently owned by ByteDance which is located in China and owned by a Chinese company. According to the U.S. government, it interferes with the safety within the app. And after failing to replace the current host with an American company, the app is unprotected from the Communist Chinese Party surveillance. Under the law, app hosts, such as Apple, can no longer allow users to download the app and users on the app can be fined up to $5,000 by the Justice Department.
President-elect Donald Trump is looking to keep TikTok accessible in the U.S., and a spokesperson told Fox News that Trump “has repeatedly expressed his desire to save TikTok, and there’s no better dealmaker than Donald Trump.”
ABC News reports that Tik Tok could still choose to shut down itself on January 19, whether forced by the U.S. government or not. This means users would have access to the app, but not the content.
With the fate of TikTok unknown, users should be proactive. ABC News recommends downloading data and saving videos that could be lost if the app goes down on Sunday.
