President-elect Donald Trump said Sunday that he plans to issue an executive order that would give TikTok’s China-based parent company more time to find an approved buyer before the popular video-sharing platform is subject to a permanent US ban.Trump announced the decision in a post on his Truth Social account as millions of TikTok users in the US awoke to discover they could no longer access the TikTok app or platform.
Google and Apple removed the app from their digital stores to comply with a federal law that required them to do so if TikTok parent company ByteDance didn’t sell its US operation by Sunday, AP reported.
He said his order would “extend the period of time before the law’s prohibitions take effect” and “confirm that there will be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before my order.
“Americans deserve to see our exciting Inauguration on Monday, as well as other events and conversations,” Trump wrote.
The law gives the sitting president authority to grant a 90-day extension if a viable sale is underway.
Although investors made a few offers, ByteDance previously said it would not sell.
In his post on Sunday, Trump said he “would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture,” but it was not immediately clear if he was referring to the government of an American company.
MNA