President-elect Donald Trump may make bringing TikTok back to its 170 million American users a priority this week.
Just when we thought the TikTok trends would end, there might be hope for the social media app after all. As of this weekend, users no longer have the usual access to TikTok, but many are holding out hope that incoming president Donald Trump will change that. And as indicated over the past few weeks, he might be delivering.
In a new interview, Donald Trump – who will be inaugurated on Monday, January 20th – said that there is a good chance he will give TikTok an extension. “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…If I decide to do that, I’ll probably announce it on Monday.”
Objectively, we don’t know if we can believe Trump’s word on the future of TikTok, although the move would make him a hero to millions of people who enjoy cracking their skulls open for internet clout. But it is probably worth noting that TikTok’s CEO, Shou Zi Chew, is expected to be at the inauguration, indicating a buddy-buddy relationship that could also point to the 90-day extension actually coming true.
Those among the 170 million U.S. users who have recently tried to log into TikTok on their phones were met with the following message, which also references Trump’s plan. “Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now. A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now. We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned!”
The legal and political issues surrounding TikTok in the United States came about primarily due to security concerns, as the company who owns it, ByteDance, is a Chinese entity. Going all the way to the Supreme Court, the highest court in the country upheld the decision to outright ban the app ahead of the weekend.
Do you think Donald Trump will ensure that TikTok remains available in the U.S.? What do you see being the repercussions of the decision?
