Donald Trump proposes US government acquire half of TikTok, which thanks him and restores service

US president-elect Donald Trump appears to have proposed the government he will soon lead should acquire half of made-in-China social media service TikTok’s stateside operations.

That suggestion came in a Sunday post by Trump in which he promised, once inaugurated as president, to issue an executive order that will extend the period of time before a law that requires TikTok either find a US owner or shutter its services at midnight on January 19th. The law also prohibited the supply of services that would keep TikTok operating but makes it possible to extend the deadline for the app’s shutdown.

The law that bans TikTok is the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act and passed Congress and the Senate with substantial majorities after lawmakers were satisfied that, as the law states, TikTok is controlled by a foreign adversary and a threat to national security.

TikTok fought the law, claiming it would unlawfully restrict free speech, and appealed all the way to the Supreme Court which last week rejected its argument.

As ByteDance, TikTok’s owner, had not sold the app, over the weekend its performance started to degrade – presumably as suppliers stopped delivering services the app relies on ahead of the Sunday midnight shutdown deadline. Apple, for example, listed all the ByteDance apps it removed from its App Store and informed users that while the software would continue to function on their devices, in-app purchases and new subscriptions are no longer possible and performance may degrade over time.

While TikTok made and its suppliers prepared to comply with the law, Trump intervened with a pledge to make the executive order to keep the app running “so that we can make a deal to protect our national security.”

He added that his initial thoughts on keeping TikTok available in the US involved “a joint venture between the current owners and/or new owners whereby the U.S. gets a 50% ownership in a joint venture set up between the U.S. and whichever purchase we so choose.”

“By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands and allow it to say up. Without U.S. approval, there is no Tik Tok. With our approval, it is worth hundreds of billions of dollars - maybe trillions.” Trump also wrote that keeping the app alive for now is reasonable as “Americans deserve to see our exciting Inauguration on Monday, as well as other events and conversations.”

TikTok responded with a Xeet in which it advised it had begun restoring service and thanked Trump “for providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties providing TikTok to over 170 million Americans” and promised to “work with President Trump on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States.” This is therefore a win for TikTok, which had sought Trump’s intervention.

The Biden administration has already said it will leave a decision about TikTok’s fate to Trump, who in 2020 worked to ban the app before backing down.

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Trump has since made reducing wasteful government spending a signature policy and his Republican generally argues for that and for small government. The incoming President’s post does not explain how acquiring half of a social media company meets those goals, or how the acquisition would be funded.

At the time of writing no serious bidder emerged for TikTok’s US operations, as the law requires if it is to continue to operate in the US. Whether TikTok’s owner ByteDance is interested in a sale also remains unknown, as is whether Chinese authorities would allow ByteDance to divest. Another unknown is whether TikTok’s US operations are profitable, as the company’s Cayman Islands registration means its finances are opaque.

Elon Musk, joint leader of the incoming administration’s cost-cutting crew the Department of Government Efficiency and also owner of social network X, weighed in with his opposition to a TikTok ban due to his preference for freedom of speech. “That said, the current situation where TikTok is allowed to operate in America, but 𝕏 is not allowed to operate in China is unbalanced. Something needs to change,” he added.

Trump’s nominee to serve as Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, also lamented the lack of balance in US/China relations during his confirmation hearings last week.

“The Chinese believe that the United States are a great power in an inevitable decline and that they are in an inevitable rise,” he told the Senate Committee for Foreign Relations. “The danger is that, because of our own actions in many cases, a dangerous imbalance is built up in that relationship.” ®