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- Senate passed law in April requiring TikTok鈥檚 parent company to divest the app, citing national security concerns
- TikTok鈥檚 owners have sought to have the law struck down and the US Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case
President-elect Donald Trump indicated on Sunday that he favored allowing TikTok to keep operating in the United States for at least 鈥渁 little while,鈥� saying he had received billions of views on the social media platform during his presidential campaign.
Trump鈥檚 comments before a crowd of conservative supporters in Phoenix, Arizona, were one of the strongest signals yet that he opposes a potential exit of TikTok from the US market.
The US Senate passed a law in April requiring TikTok鈥檚 Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to divest the app, citing national security concerns.
TikTok鈥檚 owners have sought to have the law struck down, and the US Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case. But if the court does not rule in ByteDance鈥檚 favor and no divestment occurs, the app could be effectively banned in the United States on Jan. 19, one day before Trump takes office.
It is unclear how Trump would go about undoing the TikTok divestiture order, which passed overwhelmingly in the Senate.
鈥淚 think we鈥檙e 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,鈥� Trump told the crowd at AmericaFest, an annual gathering organized by conservative group Turning Point.
鈥淭hey brought me a chart, and it was a record, and it was so beautiful to see, and as I looked at it, I said, 鈥楳aybe we gotta keep this sucker around for a little while鈥�,鈥� he said.
Trump met with TikTok鈥檚 CEO on Monday. Trump said at a news conference the same day that he had a 鈥渨arm spot鈥� for TikTok thanks to his campaign鈥檚 success on the app.
The Justice Department has argued that Chinese control of TikTok poses a continuing threat to national security, a position supported by most US lawmakers.
TikTok says the Justice Department has misstated the social media app鈥檚 ties to China, arguing that its content recommendation engine and user data are stored in the United States on cloud servers operated by Oracle Corp, while content moderation decisions that affect US users are made in the United States.