US President elect Donald Trump stated on Sunday that he is inclined to keep TikTok operating in the United States for at least a period of time, stating that videos he posted on the social media platform during his campaign received billions of views.
Trump made the above remarks to a group of conservative supporters in Phoenix, Arizona, which is one of the strongest signals so far that he opposes TikTok's withdrawal from the US market.
In April this year, the US Senate passed a law requiring TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, to spin off this application on the grounds of so-called national security.
TikTok is attempting to overturn this law. In response to the claim of "security threats," TikTok previously refuted that its content recommendation engine and user data are stored on cloud servers operated by Oracle in the United States, and that content review decisions that affect American users are made in the United States.
TikTok has submitted an urgent request to the United States Supreme Court to seek the court's blocking of the "ban if you don't sell" bill, citing that the bill violates the First Amendment's protection of freedom of speech in the United States Constitution. The US Supreme Court announced last week that it will reopen discussions on a bill to ban TikTok from operating in the United States. The relevant debate is scheduled to be held on January 10th next year.
If the court makes a ruling unfavorable to TikTok, the application may be banned in the United States on January 19th (the day before Trump took office). ByteDance has made it clear that it will not sell TikTok's US business.
It is currently unclear how Trump will revoke the TikTok law that was overwhelmingly passed in the Senate.
I think we need to start thinking because, you know, we did use TikTok and the response was great, we got billions of views, billions, billions of views, "Trump said at the annual gathering AmericaFest organized by the conservative organization Turning Point.
They brought me a chart, it's a record that looks so beautiful. I looked at it and said, 'Maybe we should let this guy (TikTok) operate for a while longer,' "he said.
Trump met with TikTok CEO Zhou Shouzi last Monday. He said at a press conference on the same day, "We will study TikTok. You know, I have a good impression of TikTok
Although some US lawmakers believe that TikTok poses a continuous threat to US national security, not all lawmakers advocate for an immediate ban on the app. Last Thursday, US Democratic Senator Ed Markey and Republican Senator Rand Paul urged President Biden to extend the deadline for the sale of TikTok by ByteDance, and extend the deadline by 90 days from January 19 next year, on the grounds that the future of the "ban without selling" bill is uncertain and may have a huge impact on freedom of expression.