Among an array of executive orders signed by the president, Mr Trump said his order would give TikTok’s China-based parent firm ByteDance more time to find a buyer
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order granting TikTok a 75-day extension to sell its US business, in compliance with a law that necessitates the app’s sale or faces a ban.
Among several executive orders signed by the president after his Monday inauguration, Mr Trump stated his order would provide ByteDance, TikTok’s China-based parent company, additional time to find a buyer.
The president has suggested a 50-50 joint venture between ByteDance and the United States for TikTok ownership, but further details on such a scheme have not been disclosed, and ByteDance has resisted agreeing to any sale. This executive order means the Trump administration will not enforce a law enacted by former president Joe Biden last year, which banned the app on national security grounds.
The Biden administration argued that the data of the 170 million Americans using TikTok could end up in the hands of the Chinese government, or the site’s recommendation algorithm could be manipulated to create discord in the United States. Mr Trump backed a similar ban during his first term as president but claims he changed his stance after gaining popularity on the platform, which he believes helped him secure younger voters during the presidential election.
In a dramatic weekend turn, TikTok experienced an outage in the US on Saturday ahead of a threatened ban, only to make a comeback on Sunday evening when Mr Trump announced he’d sign an executive order permitting its operation as he steps into office. Users were greeted with a message of thanks to the new president for his action upon their return to the app, and TikTok’s CEO Shou Zi Chew was spotted at President Trump’s Monday inauguration among various tech leaders.
While TikTok is barred from government devices in the UK, the country stops short of an outright public ban. Speaking on BBC’s “Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg,” Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones said: “We always keep all of these technology issues under consideration, whether it’s for national security or data privacy concerns.”
“We have laws in place and processes to do that. We have no plans right now to ban TikTok from the UK.”
Adding further, “So, we won’t be following the same path that the Americans have followed unless or until at some point in the future there is a threat that we are concerned about in the British interest.”
