Can Trump Save TikTok? Ban ‘D-Day’ Is Under A Month Away

Trump said he might find it worthwhile to keep TikTok in the US for a while longer, but the date of the ban looms only a day before his inauguration.

President-elect Donald Trump has reiterated that he might find it worthwhile to keep TikTok operational in the U.S. for a while longer, claiming he received billions of views on the platform during his presidential campaign. But TikTok has until January 19 to divest from Beijing-based parent company ByteDance or face a ban, while Trump doesn’t take office until the following day.

The U.S. Senate passed a law back in April requiring ByteDance to divest the app by January 19, citing national security concerns. The company has fought to strike down the law, but their appeal was initially refused. However, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear TikTok’s request for review.

But if the Court doesn’t rule in ByteDance’s favor, and no divestment takes place, the app could be effectively banned in the United States on January 19 — one day before Trump takes office.

Even if Trump makes good on his suggestion that he try to reverse a TikTok ban, it’s unclear how he would go about doing so. The divestiture order passed overwhelmingly in the Senate earlier this year.

“I think we’re going to have to start thinking, because, you know, we did go on TikTok, and we had a great response with billions of views, billions and billions of views,” Trump told his supporters at AmericaFest over the weekend. “They brought me a chart, and it was a record, and it was so beautiful to see, and as I looked at it, I said, ‘Maybe we gotta keep this sucker around for a little while.’”

Trump has also met with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, after having said at a news conference that he had a “warm spot” for TikTok after learning of his campaign’s success on the platform.

The U.S. Department of Justice has argued that ByteDance’s control of TikTok poses a continuing threat to national security, as companies within Beijing’s jurisdiction are subject to CCP requests for data. Most U.S. lawmakers agree with this position.

But TikTok argues the Justice Department has it wrong, claiming its content recommendation engine and user data are stored within the United States on cloud servers operated by Oracle Corp. Despite these claims, multiple reports have asserted that Beijing-based officials still have access to this data.