President-elect Donald J. Trump is considering an executive order that would allow TikTok to continue operating despite a pending legal ban until a new owner is found, according to people familiar with the matter.
A possible executive order, previously reported by the Washington Post, is under discussion as TikTok faces a deadline on Sunday to be banned from the United States unless it finds a new owner. The popular video sharing app is owned by Chinese company ByteDance. Republicans have said for years that they view the app, which has been downloaded on millions of smartphones, as a national security risk. It has become a rare issue that unites both parties in Congress.
If the Supreme Court upholds a law banning the app unless ByteDance sells it to companies outside of China, special treatment from President Trump may be the only way for TikTok to continue operating in the United States in the short term. The law requires app store operators such as Apple and Google and cloud computing providers to stop distributing TikTok in the United States.
Executive orders can direct the government not to enforce a law or to delay enforcement to complete a deal, a measure former presidents have used to challenge the law. It’s unclear whether the executive order will overcome legal challenges or persuade app stores and cloud computing companies to take steps that could result in steep penalties.
Alan Z. Rozenshtein, a former national security adviser at the Justice Department and a professor at the University of Minnesota Law School, said the executive order should be taken “with a grain of salt.” He said such orders are not law and would not legally change the legislation passed by Congress and signed by President Biden.
There’s speculation that the app will continue to work even if you’ve already downloaded it, but the law also affects internet hosting companies like Oracle and other cloud computing providers, and it’s unclear how video load times and app functionality will react.
A person close to Trump’s team said some of his allies had been in loose discussions about buying TikTok, but did not provide details. Mr Biden, whose term ends on Monday, the day after the ban went into effect, is also under pressure to find a way to save the app.
The New York Times reported late Wednesday that TikTok CEO Shou Chew is scheduled to attend President Trump’s inauguration ceremony on Monday and has been offered a seat at the podium. TikTok declined to comment.
Mr Chew is expected to join other technology executives on the podium. Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder of Meta; Amazon founder Jeff Bezos; President Trump’s mega-donor Elon Musk; And there was Apple CEO Tim Cook, who personally donated $1 million to the founding committee.
President Trump previously supported a TikTok ban, but publicly changed his stance last year shortly after meeting with Republican megadonor Jeff Yass, who owns a large stake in ByteDance.
President Trump said he had never discussed the company. But Mr. Yass helped found Susquehanna International Group, a trading company, and is one of the biggest supporters of the Club for Growth, a conservative lobbying group. The group has hired people with ties to Trump, including Trump’s former top adviser Kellyanne Conway and Republican adviser David Urban, to lobby for TikTok in Washington.
TikTok also tried to make inroads into the Trump team through Tony Sayegh, who was a Treasury official in Trump’s first administration and now heads public affairs for the Susquehanna.
Mr. Sayegh has ties to the Trump family and was a key part of the campaign’s decision to join TikTok this summer. Several family members have also joined the app, including Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and the president-elect’s granddaughter Kai Trump.
President Trump’s interest in TikTok isn’t entirely due to his advisers. He came to see how effective videos about him were on the platform, which his advisers credited with helping him expand his reach to new types of voters during the campaign.
Any action Mr. Trump could take against TikTok is complicated. The law gives bosses the power to extend the sale deadline only if “substantial progress” is made on a deal that would put the company into the hands of non-Chinese owners.
Additionally, the transaction must be able to be completed within 90 days of the extension. It’s unclear exactly how the extension will work if President Trump tries to deploy it after the ban goes into effect.
TikTok has been challenging the law throughout the courts, saying such sales are unenforceable in part because of the time frames stipulated. A group led by billionaire Frank McCourt has been bidding to buy apps in recent months, albeit without a strong algorithm.
President Trump may also try to circumvent the law by directing the government not to enforce it.
But app store operators and cloud computing providers could demand more than soft assurances that Trump won’t punish them if they don’t implement the ban, said Ryan Calo, a professor at the University of Washington Law School. The potential liability for companies that violate the law is significant. Once the ban goes into effect, there will be a fine of up to $5,000 per person allowed to use TikTok.
“We could have a policy of not enforcing this ban,” said Mr. Calo, who was part of a group of professors who urged the Supreme Court to overturn the TikTok law. “But I think conservative companies might say, ‘Okay, we’re not going to force that.’ But it is on the books and can be executed at any time.’”
Pam Bondi, President Trump’s pick for attorney general, declined to say whether she would enforce the law.
“I cannot discuss pending litigation,” she said during her Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday. “But I will talk to all the former prosecutors in charge of this case.”
President Trump has a third option. It is an appeal to Congress to overturn a policy that was overwhelmingly approved with broad bipartisan support last year.
“Congress can undo this at any time,” Mr. Calo said.
