TikTok's future in the US in the hands of President Donald Trump

2025-01-22 19:01:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Millions of TikTok users in the US are looking to President Donald Trump, who has given the network's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, a 75-day deadline to reach a deal with an American company to buy the platform or face a ban in the US. On Tuesday, President Trump asked Oracle CEO Larry Ellison to buy TikTok. The future of the app used by millions of Americans is uncertain.

President Trump met yesterday at the White House with Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, regarding an initiative to invest $500 billion in artificial intelligence infrastructure.

After the meeting, a reporter asked Mr. Trump if he would be open to the possibility of Elon Musk buying the TikTok platform. The president said yes, but also suggested that the Oracle CEO buy the TikTok network.

"I would be open to (Elon Musk) buying it. But I would like Larry to buy it too. I have the right to make a deal. So, Larry, the deal I have in mind is this, let's negotiate it in front of the media. I'm saying that the United States gives the authorization for Tik Tok not to be shut down, but to take half of the platform. I think it's reasonable. What do you think?", the President said.

Mr. Ellison responded that "it sounds like a good deal to me, Mr. President."

Among the first executive orders President Trump signed on Monday was one to extend the ban on the TikTok app in the US by 75 days, giving Chinese company ByteDance time to find an American buyer or face a ban in the US.

"TikTok is special to me, it wasn't like that before. After I joined the platform, I gained the support of young voters, 36 percent of them," Mr. Trump said.

The executive order was a significant change for China-based ByteDance, which owns the TikTok platform, as well as its approximately 170 million American users.

Over the weekend, the network was briefly shut down after the Supreme Court upheld a law banning TikTok in the US unless it was sold, due to national security concerns.

But things changed after Mr. Trump signaled his support for pushing back the ban on the app.

TikTok CEO Shou Chew, who was invited to President Trump's inauguration, thanked him in a video on Friday.

"We are grateful and pleased to have the support of a President who truly understands our platform. A President who has used the TikTok network to express his thoughts and views," said Mr. Chew.

But some legal experts say the extension Mr. Trump signed may not be able to protect companies like Oracle from allowing the TikTok platform to operate, because the law banning TikTok, passed by Congress, remains in effect.

"There is a possibility, and I believe that Oracle shareholders and their lawyers are thinking about it, that in the last 48 hours, Oracle has been exposed to a lawsuit that could reach billions of dollars and Mr. Trump may have no way to undo this obligation," says Alan Rosenstein of the University of Minnesota.

Mr. Trump's executive order represents a change of stance from his first term, where he supported banning the TikTok network due to suspicions that the platform could share American users' data with the Chinese government.

Although Congress initially gave the TikTok platform 270 days to find an American buyer, there is no public indication that a sale is being worked on.

"The fact that they haven't allowed this, I think, is an indication that the Chinese government has real national security interests in keeping the app as it is, which should really concern us and really underscores the reasons that prompted Congress to pass the law," said Adam Kovacevich, director of the Chamber of Progress.

TikTok has a 75-day deadline to resolve its status, and despite Mr. Trump's support, the company's future remains in question./VOA