Trump says he will delay TikTok ban, suggests a joint venture with US ownership

TikTok has gone dark for users in the US on Saturday night, but it may not be gone for long.

President-elect Donald Trump posted on Truth Social On Sunday morning that he would issue an executive order on Monday that would “extend the period before the statutory bans go into effect so that we can make a deal to protect our national security.”

Even before TikTok went down, Trump said he would “most likely” give the company a 90-day extension.

In his post on Sunday, Trump also presented his “initial thinking” on what the deal might look like, describing it as “a joint venture between the current owners and/or new owners with the US getting 50% ownership.”

Bipartisan majority in both houses of Congress passed the law last April it would force ByteDance to either sell TikTok or ban it in the United States; the bill was quickly signed into law by President Joe Biden. Trump, who tried to get ByteDance to sell TikTok during his first termhe loudly opposed the ban this time.

WITH The Supreme Court upheld the law In making the decision on Friday, with the law set to take effect on Sunday and Trump’s inauguration scheduled for Monday, White House and Justice Department officials issued statements suggesting they would leave the actual implementation of the ban up to the incoming president.

However, TikTok said that “critical service providers” needed a “more definitive statement” that they will not be penalized for continuing to host or list the Application; without those guarantees, the application would be blacked out. (A White House spokesman called TikTok’s stance a “stunt.”) When the app actually crashedTikTok shared a message with users that “We are happy that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to restore TikTok once he takes office.”

Trump’s post suggested he would like to see TikTok back up and running even before issuing his executive order, writing that he is “asking companies not to allow TikTok to remain in the dark” and that his order “will confirm that there will be no liability for any the company that helped keep TikTok from stopping before my order.”

“Americans deserve to see our exciting inauguration on Monday, as well as other events and conversations,” Trump wrote.