Recent U.S. national election winner and President-elect Donald Trump is reportedly looking for ways to prevent TikTok from getting banned in the country, particularly as the law from the Biden administration is still in effect. That being said, the pending litigation that TikTok has appealed to the court against the U.S. government is still under deliberation for the social media platform.
Many feared that Trump's win might hurt TikTok and its operations in the United States, specifically since in his first term, he pushed for a ban against the social media platform should it not be sold or operated by an American company.
Trump to Prevent TikTok Ban From Happening Soon
However, a new report from The Washington Post has claimed that Donald Trump is now making his move to prevent TikTok from facing the ban that will supposedly take effect this January. He did promise to stop this from happening while campaigning for the highest position. Sources claimed Trump is now looking for ways to save TikTok from the looming ban, enacted by the Biden administration alongside the bipartisan efforts that approved it.
Kellyanne Conway, the sole quoted source of The Post's report, shared that Trump is also looking for another way to "hold China to account" instead of letting around 180 million users in the United States suffer from it.
It remains unclear what steps Trump will take or what strings he will pull to stop the ban from happening, especially since he is only the President-elect at the moment and has no real power to prevent it from happening.
Will Trump Be Able to Stop the TikTok Ban on Time?
It is important to note that when the six-month deadline for TikTok to divest from ByteDance takes effect in January, it is a day before Trump officially takes his seat and returns to the White House.
Currently, Trump will be a day late to have any real power in preventing the TikTok ban from happening, knowing that the Foreign Adversary law is absolute in going against the Chinese social media giant, with his specific actions remaining unknown as of the moment.
TikTok Ban in the United States
The year 2024 was not a good year for TikTok as the company faced scrutiny worldwide, with the United States known for its grueling Congress deliberations against the platform for its alleged ties to China. The U.S. believes that China still has access to TikTok despite its deal with Oracle around four years ago, and this was also when Trump's presidency was coming to an end.
It is known that TikTok fought valiantly since the Senate bill was passed and had President Biden sign it into law, with the company making it its top priority to appeal the law from taking them away from as many as 180 million American users. Content creators of the platform also filed separate lawsuits against the country to prevent the ban from taking effect, but this is still under deliberation.
Trump's previous campaign saw him creating a TikTok account where they used the platform to spread their message to American voters, and it was also followed by claims from the politician that the social media app would not be banned under his watch. However, the law can still ban TikTok come January, after the six-month deadline to find a U.S. buyer, but Trump is now reportedly making an all-out effort to prevent it from happening.
