President-elect Donald Trump is exploring ways to "preserve" TikTok in the United States amid a looming ban, according to Florida Rep. Mike Walz (R) - Trump's incoming national security advisor.
In an interview with Fox News', host Bret Baier said that such options include an executive order to suspend enforcement of the divest-or-ban law for 60 or 90 days.
"TikTok itself is a fantastic platform," said Waltz. "The algorithm is amazing. We’re going to find a way to preserve it but protect people’s data and that’s the deal that will be in front of us."
TokTok's China-based parent company ByteDance is required by federal law to divest its popular app TikTok by Jan. 19, the day before Trump's inauguration, on national security grounds - or face a ban in one of its largest markets.
On April 24 of 2024, President Joe Biden signed the "Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act," which was approved by bipartisan majorities in both chambers of congress. The law grants the president the authority to force the divestiture of social media companies operating in the US that are more than 20% controlled by foreign adversaries that have been deemed a significant threat to national security.
As the Epoch Times notes further, extending enforcement of the law would grant the incoming administration more time to negotiate a sale or an alternative solution to a full-scale ban on the social media platform.
“If the Supreme Court comes out with a ruling in favor of the law, President Trump has been very clear: Number one, TikTok is a great platform that many Americans use and has been great for his campaign and getting his message out. But number two, he’s going to protect their data,” Waltz said.
“He’s a deal maker. I don’t want to get ahead of our executive orders, but we’re going to create this space to put that deal in place.”
Waltz noted ongoing concerns among officials in Washington regarding the Chinese Communist Party having access to TikTok users’ data.
“It’s the threat from China seeing the data, being able to manipulate hundreds of millions of Americans. We wouldn’t have had that with the Soviet Union and we certainly shouldn’t have it with the Chinese Communist Party,” Waltz said.
TikTok, which has more than 170 million monthly U.S. users, has repeatedly maintained that user data and information can not be accessed by the Chinese communist regime and says it stores U.S. user data on servers outside of China.
The Supreme Court last week heard oral arguments in a legal challenge to the divest-or-ban law that was brought by TikTok, ByteDance, and users of the app.
The nation’s highest court appears poised to uphold the ban on the social media app following those arguments, during which the justices focused mainly on whether a ban would violate the First Amendment.
The court is expected to issue a ruling on the matter before the Jan. 19 deadline.
Last month, Trump urged justices to pause enforcement of the law to allow his incoming administration to work out a deal to ensure TikTok remains available to Americans.
“President Trump alone possesses the consummate dealmaking expertise, the electoral mandate, and the political will to negotiate a resolution to save the platform while addressing the national security concerns,” his amicus brief stated.
