President-elect Trump lays out a plan to save TikTok and explains why he loves the popular app.
President-elect Trump said TikTok is returning to the US market, after a brief ban, during a pre-inauguration rally on Sunday under the new deal.
This time, he told supporters gathered in Washington that he intended to create a deal in which the US would have 50% ownership of the popular app’s operations.
On Friday, the US The Supreme Court confirmed bipartisan legislation passed last year that bans TikTok unless its Chinese-owned company ByteDance sells it by Sunday, citing national security risks from ties to China’s communist government. The decision follows months of negotiations regarding national security concerns related to Chinese ownership of the app.
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Trump, who claimed the app helped him connect with younger voters during his campaignhe urged companies not to let TikTok go dark.
“If you don’t approve, they’re out of business, they’re worth nothing. If you approve, they’re worth about $1 trillion … some crazy number. So I said, ‘I’ll approve, but let the United States own 50% of TikTok,'” he said supporters.
(Yan Cong/Bloomberg via Getty Images/File)
He emphasized the importance of keeping the app, saying, “We don’t want to give our business to China. We don’t want to give our business to other people.”
He also argued that the joint venture would pose no risk to the US
“There is no risk. We don’t invest money. All we do is give them approval without which they have nothing,” he added.
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Trump wrote before his statement on Truth Social that he would issue an executive order on Monday, when he is to be sworn in as the nation’s 47th president, “to extend the period of time before the statutory bans go into effect so that we can make a deal to protect our national security.”
“The order will also confirm that there will be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going down before my order,” he said.
After Trump promised to prevent the app from being blacked out in the US, the social network began to restore business in the US.
TikTok’s X account dedicated to posting the policy update released a statement later Sunday saying, “In consultation with our service providers, TikTok is in the process of re-establishing the service.”
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“We thank President Trump for providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will not face any penalties for providing TikTok to more than 170 million Americans and enabling more than 7 million small businesses to thrive,” the statement said. “It’s a strong stance for the First Amendment and against arbitrary censorship. We will work with President Trump on a long-term solution that will keep TikTok in the United States.”
TikTok CEO Shou Chew is expected to attend Trump’s inauguration, according to Fox News.
FOX News’ Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.
