President-elect Donald J. Trump is considering an executive order that would allow TikTok to continue operating until a new owner is found, despite a pending legal ban, according to people familiar with the matter. It is said that there is.
The potential executive order, first reported by the Washington Post, is being discussed as TikTok faces a Sunday deadline to find a new owner or be banned from the United States. The popular video-sharing app is owned by Chinese company ByteDance. Republicans have long said they consider the app, which is downloaded to millions of smartphones, a national security risk. This issue has become a rare issue on which both parties agree in Congress.
If the Supreme Court upholds a law banning the app unless ByteDance sells it to companies outside China, special treatment from Trump would be the only way for TikTok to continue operating in the U.S. in the short term. There is a possibility. The law requires app store operators and cloud computing providers such as Apple and Google to stop distributing TikTok in the United States.
Executive orders can direct the government not to enforce a law or to delay enforcement in order to complete an agreement, a tactic that past presidents have used to challenge laws. It is a measure. It's unclear whether the executive order will survive legal challenges or persuade app stores and cloud computing companies to take action that could result in hefty fines.
There is some speculation that apps will continue to work if they have already been downloaded, but the law also affects internet hosting companies such as Oracle and other cloud computing providers, and could affect video loading times and app speeds. It's unclear how the feature will react.
A person close to Mr. Trump's team said some allies had held loose discussions about acquiring TikTok, but declined to provide details. President Biden, whose term ends on Monday, the day after the ban goes into effect, is also under pressure to find a way to preserve the app.
The New York Times reported late Wednesday that TikTok CEO Shaw Chu was scheduled to attend Trump's inauguration on Monday and was offered a seat on the podium. TikTok declined to comment.
Chu will be joined on stage by other technology executives. Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder. Trump's megadonor Elon Musk. And Apple CEO Tim Cook personally donated $1 million to the founding committee.
Trump previously supported banning TikTok, but publicly changed his position shortly after meeting last year with Republican megadonor Jeff Yass, who owns a large stake in ByteDance.
Trump said he did not discuss the company. But Mr. Yass helped found the trading firm Susquehanna International Group and is one of the biggest supporters of the conservative lobby group Club for Growth. The group has hired people with ties to Trump, including former top Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway and Republican adviser David Urban, to lobby for TikTok in Washington.
TikTok has also worked to infiltrate the Trump team through Tony Sayegh, who served as a Treasury official during Trump's first administration and now heads up communications for Susquehanna.
Sayegh has ties to the Trump family and was a key figure in the campaign's decision to join TikTok this summer. Several family members have also joined the app, including Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and the president-elect's granddaughter Kai Trump.
Trump's interest in TikTok isn't entirely the fault of his advisers. He came to see how well videos about him would perform on the platform. His advisers credited it with helping him expand his reach to new types of voters during the campaign.
Any action Mr. Trump might take against TikTok is complicated. The law gives the president the power to extend the sale deadline only if there is “significant progress” toward an agreement that would place the company in the hands of a non-Chinese owner.
It is also required that the transaction be completed within 90 days after the extension. It's unclear exactly how an extension would work if Trump were to try to introduce it after the ban goes into effect.
TikTok has argued through court challenges that the stipulated time period makes such sales impracticable. In recent months, a group led by billionaire Frank McCourt has bid to acquire the app, even though it lacks a powerful algorithm.
Mr. Trump could also try to circumvent the law by instructing the government not to enforce it.
But Ryan Caro, a professor at the University of Washington School of Law, said app store operators and cloud computing providers may want more than Trump's soft assurances that they won't be punished for failing to enforce the ban. He said there is. The potential legal liability for companies that violate the law is significant, with fines of up to $5,000 for each person who can use TikTok once the ban goes into effect.
“There could be a policy of not enforcing this ban,” said Caro, who is part of a group of professors who asked the Supreme Court to overturn the TikTok law. “But maybe conservative companies will think, 'Okay, we're not going to enforce it.' But it's on the books and they can enforce it at any time.”
Trump's nominee for attorney general, Pam Bondi, declined to say whether she would enforce the law.
“I cannot discuss pending litigation,” he said during his Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday. “But I'm going to talk to every career prosecutor who's working on this case.”
Trump has a third option. It's a call to Congress to repeal a policy that was overwhelmingly approved last year with broad bipartisan support.
“Congress can revoke this at any time,” Caro said.
