President Joe Biden’s administration is considering ways to keep TikTok available in the United States if a ban expected to take effect on Sunday goes ahead, according to three people familiar with the discussions.
“Americans should not expect TikTok to suddenly be banned on Sunday,” an administration official said, adding that officials are “exploring options” for implementing the law so that TikTok does not go dark on Sunday.
If the administration goes ahead with such a plan, the popular app’s outage would not mark his last full day in office, deferring the issue to Donald Trump, who is inaugurated on Monday.
Mike Waltz, Trump’s new national security adviser, told Fox News on Wednesday that Trump is willing to intervene to maintain access to the Chinese video app in the US market. And Pam Bondi, his pick for attorney general, declined to commit to enforcing the ban when asked about it during her Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday.
These moves represent parallel attempts by the rival presidents to conduct a final run around Congress and the Supreme Court, which must decide on the ban at any time.
Still, a White House official emphasized that not enforcing the ban, if it is enforced, is not an option.
“We are not considering delaying enforcement,” the official said. “Legally, we don’t believe we have the authority to do that.”
Biden and Trump’s positions are a reversal of their one-time support for banning TikTok.
Trump’s transition team did not respond to requests for comment on the plan.
TikTok is considering its options, including the latest possibility of going dark on Sunday, although it could also allow the app to remain active but without future updates and bug fixes.
The law in question required ByteDance, TikTok’s China-based owner, to divest the company and find an outside buyer to take over within nine months. That window closes on Sunday. The law also gave the president the authority to grant a one-time 90-day extension if “significant progress” has been made toward divestment.
The measure was introduced in the name of national security as lawmakers believed that US users’ data was at risk of being compromised by China or that China could influence Americans by controlling content on TikTok. TikTok — which has long said these concerns are unfounded — and some of its users have filed a lawsuit to block the law, challenging it from a First Amendment perspective.
Without a sale, a delay for TikTok would mean national security concerns would remain unresolved, at least for now.
Just days before the possible ban, large numbers of American TikTok users downloaded Chinese alternatives that pose similar security concerns.
Trump, who tried and failed to implement a ban during his first term, vowed during his campaign last year to “save TikTok.” Biden signed the ban into law as part of a $95 billion measure that provided aid to Ukraine and Israel in April. But now his White House wants to take out the teeth.
Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., a longtime Biden ally, is among a small group of lawmakers who have called on the White House and Supreme Court to halt the ban.
“I am hopeful that President Biden will listen to the millions of voices who don’t want the lights to go out on this app,” Khanna said. “He has the power to extend the timeline and try to find a solution that prevents the app from being shut down.”
Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., also said he has relayed his concerns to White House officials and asked them to delay the ban.
He said they responded that they would “consider it,” but did not provide a clear answer as to what would happen.
Late last month, Trump filed a brief urging the Supreme Court to delay implementation of that part of the law so the new president could “pursue a negotiated resolution” to prevent a shutdown of TikTok. Trump’s lawyer John Sauer argued in the letter that Trump “has received a strong electoral mandate from American voters to protect the freedom of speech of all Americans – including the 170 million Americans who use TikTok.”
Days later, Trump asked on his Truth Social platform: “Why would I want to get off TikTok?”
He attached an image showing his wide reach on the short video app, which claims 170 million U.S. users.
Last week, Supreme Court justices appeared unconvinced by TikTok’s free speech arguments, though they could decide to temporarily block the law while still ruling against the company.
During arguments, Chief Justice John Roberts pointed to Congress’s finding that TikTok’s parent company is subject to Chinese laws that require it to assist in intelligence gathering.
“So should we ignore the fact that the ultimate parent is in fact subject to intelligence work for the Chinese government?” he asked.
In addressing free speech concerns, Roberts said, “Congress doesn’t care about what’s on TikTok.”
Lawmakers were “not saying TikTok should stop,” he added. “They say China should stop controlling TikTok.”
While TikTok’s Asian headquarters are in Singapore, its parent company ByteDance is in Beijing.
Some Republicans in Congress who voted for the law said they expect Trump to intervene and negotiate a sale to U.S. interests once he takes power.
“They must divest by law so that Trump can play an effective role in finding a buyer. … He sees himself as a top negotiator,” said Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Texas, a China hawk who was chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee when Congress passed the legislation last year. “Otherwise I think it will be closed unless he can find a way to divest it.”
“A lot of these influencers rely on TikTok,” he continued. “They don’t want to switch, but ByteDance is controlled from Beijing. It’s just not a threat to Congress, it’s a threat to our children.”
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said TikTok has only one path if it wants to remain active in the United States: divestment.
“Congress has already passed the bill,” he said. “What I hope for is that TikTok’s owners will come forward and say, ‘We will never share Americans’ data with the Communist Party of China, and this is how that will be enforced: spinning off the parent company.’”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
