To The Moon

TMTPOST -- As promised, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday, his first day in office, to avoid TikTok shutting down in the country under a sell-or-ban law.

Credit：Xinhua News Agency

Trump issued an executive order to suspend application of the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (the “Act”) to TikTok temporarily. “I am  instructing the Attorney General not to take any action to enforce the Act for a period of 75 days from today to allow my Administration an opportunity to determine the appropriate course forward in an orderly way that protects national security while avoiding an abrupt shutdown of a communications platform used by millions of Americans,” Trump said in the executive order.

During the 75 days, the U.S. Department of Justice shall take no action to enforce the Act or impose any penalties against any entity for any noncompliance with the Act, the executive order said.

In order to fulfil the constitutional responsibility for the national security of the United States, Trump intends to consult with my advisors, including the heads of relevant departments and agencies on the national security concerns posed by TikTok, and to pursue a resolution that protects national security while saving a platform used by 170 million Americans, according to the executive order.

The Trump Administration must also review sensitive intelligence related to those concerns and evaluate the sufficiency of mitigation measures TikTok has taken to date, per the executive order.

Trump said in the Oval Office Monday night that the U.S. should own half of TikTok, which he estimated could be worth $1 trillion. “I think the U.S. should be entitled to get half of TikTok and, congratulations, TikTok has a good partner and that would be worth, you know, could be $500 billion,” Trump said.

The Act, which went into effect in April 2024, gives China-based tech giant ByteDance 270 days to divest its U.S. assets including TikTok, otherwise the Chinese tech giant would face a ban on its app being available in U.S. app stores or on U.S. web hosting services. It also grants the White House the authority to prolong this deadline by another 90 days if the president deems that progress has been made towards a sale.

The Supreme Court justices unanimously upheld  the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (the “Act”)  that forces TikTok to shutter its U.S. operation unless the Chinese company ByteDance Ltd. to divest the super popular short video platform by Sunday.

For the court, U.S. Congress passed the Act and determined that divestiture is necessary to address its “well-supported national security concerns”, which became a deciding factor in how it weighed the case.

The Act imposes TikTok-specific prohibitions due to a foreign adversary’s control over the platform and make divestiture a prerequisite for the platform’s continued operation in the United States, while it does not target particular speech based upon its content, according to the justices.

Trump said Saturday he will give TikTok a 90-day reprieve from a potential ban once he takes office. “I think that would be, certainly, an option that we look at. The 90-day extension is something that will be most likely done, because it’s appropriate. You know, it’s appropriate. We have to look at it carefully. It’s a very big situation,” Trump said in the phone interview.  

 “I will issue an executive order on Monday to extend the period of time before the law’s prohibitions take effect, so that we can make a deal to protect our national security. The order will also confirm that there will be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before my order,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social social media platform on Sunday.