TikTok Trump ban

Photo Credit: TikTok

President Trump has signed an executive order that gives TikTok a 75-Day stay on the ban signed into law by President Biden. Apple and Google are still blocking the app from their respective app stores, preventing new installs.

The law requires ByteDance to divest from TikTok or face a continued ban in the United States; Trump’s new executive order gives the company 75 days to address the national security concerns. Trump has previously argued that there should be at least 50% U.S. ownership of the platform.

“If I do the deal for the United States, then I think we should get half,” President Trump told reporters. “In other words wait, I think the U.S. should be entitled to get half of TikTok. And congratulations, TikTok has a good partner, and that would be worth you know, could be worth $500 billion or something.”

He also mentioned that he considers the platform ‘worthless’ unless he strikes a deal. “TikTok is worthless, worthless if I don’t approve it, it has to close. I learned that from the people who own it. If I don’t do the deal, it’s worthless, worth nothing. If I do the deal, it’s worth maybe a trillion dollars, a trillion.”

Trump has also floated the idea of a joint venture owning TikTok, though he has not expanded on what he means by that statement. When asked whether the TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is open to that development, Trump just answered, “he’s around.”

“TikTok is largely about kids, young kids. If China is going to get information about young kids out of it, to be honest, I think we have bigger problems than that,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday. The Chinese Vice President Han Zheng attended yesterday’s inauguration in place of Xi Jinping, who Trump originally invited to attend. Typically, ambassadors have attended past presidential inaugurations.