President-elect Trump outlines his plan to save TikTok and explains why he loves the popular app.
President-elect Trump said TikTok was returning to the U.S. market, after its brief ban, during a pre-inauguration rally on Sunday under a new arrangement.
This time, he told supporters gathered in Washington that he aimed to strike a deal in which the United States would own 50% of the popular app’s operations.
Friday, the United States Supreme Court confirmation the bipartisan law passed last year banning TikTok unless its Chinese company ByteDance sells it by Sunday, citing national security risks because of its ties to China’s communist government. The move follows months of negotiations over national security concerns related to Chinese ownership of the app.
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Trump, who claimed the app helped him connect with younger voters during his campaignurged companies not to let TikTok die out.
“If you don’t approve, they go bankrupt, they’re worthless. If you approve, they’re worth about $1 trillion… crazy number. So I said, ‘I’ll approve, but leave them.’ .the United States of America owns 50% of TikTok,” he told his supporters.
(Yan Cong/Bloomberg via Getty Images/File)
He stressed the importance of retaining the app, saying: “We don’t want to hand over our business to China. We do not want to hand over our activities to other people. »
He also said the joint venture would pose no risk to the United States.
“There is no risk. We are not investing any money. All we are doing is giving them permission without which they have nothing,” he added.
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Before his remarks, Trump wrote on Social Truth that he will issue an executive order on Monday, when he is sworn in as the country’s 47th president, “to extend the period before the law’s prohibitions take effect, so that we can reach an agreement to protect our security national”. “
“The order will also confirm that there will be no liability for any company that helped prevent TikTok from going dark before my order,” he said.
After Trump pledged to stop the app from disappearing in the United States, the social media company began to restore its operations in the United States.
TikTok’s X account dedicated to posting policy updates posted a statement on Sunday saying, “In agreement with our service providers, TikTok is restoring service.”
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“We thank President Trump for providing necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will not face any penalties in providing TikTok to more than 170 million Americans and enabling more than 7 million small businesses to thrive,” the statement said. “This is a strong stance in support of the First Amendment and against arbitrary censorship. We will work with President Trump on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States.”
TikTok CEO Shou Chew expected to attend Trump’s inauguration, according to Fox News.
Danielle Wallace of FOX News contributed to this report.
