US President-elect plans to issue executive order to reverse app shutdown, proposes 50% local ownership
President-elect Donald Trump announced plans to issue an executive order to reverse the shutdown of TikTok in the United States on Sunday, just hours after the popular video app shut down its 170 million American users.
Trump said he would seek an American acquisition of a 50% stake in TikTok through a joint venture, according to a post on his social media platform.
“I ask companies not to let TikTok stay dark!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “I will issue an executive order on Monday to extend the period of time before the ban goes into effect, so we can reach an agreement to protect our national security. The order will also confirm that there will be no liability for any company that helped prevent TikTok from going dark.” He accepted my order.
“Without US approval, there would be no TikTok. With our approval, it would be worth hundreds of billions of dollars, perhaps trillions.” He added.
The Chinese-owned app went offline late Saturday and disappeared from US app stores after ByteDance, its parent company, failed to meet a January 19 deadline to sell its US operations under a federal law passed last year.
The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the constitutionality of the Protecting Americans from Controlled Apps from Foreign Adversaries Act, which forced the sale or shutdown, citing national security concerns.
Other ByteDance apps, including video editor CapCut and social media platform Lemon8, have also been removed from US app stores.
As TikTok goes offline, rival Chinese app RedNote has emerged as the most downloaded free app on Apple’s App Store, with millions of Americans adopting the app. “#Refugee_TikTok” Hashtag while switching platforms.
Trump’s planned executive order would give ByteDance a 90-day extension to find an approved buyer. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is expected to attend Trump’s inauguration on Monday, sources familiar with the matter said.
Neither the White House nor TikTok immediately responded to requests for comment.
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