Trump’s executive order instructs the U.S. attorney general not to take any action to enforce the TikTok ban for 75 days.

The Future of TikTok

The Associated Press reports Trump issues an executive order to suspend the US TikTok ban. But can it stick?

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday to keep TikTok operating for 75 days, a relief to the social media platform’s users even as national security questions persist.

TikTok’s China-based parent ByteDance was supposed to find a U.S. buyer or be banned on Jan. 19. Trump’s order could give ByteDance more time to find a buyer.

“I guess I have a warm spot for TikTok,” Trump said.

Shou Zi Chew, TikTok’s CEO, attended Trump’s inauguration earlier in the day, seated with American tech heavyweights.

Business leaders, lawmakers, legal scholars, and influencers who make money on TikTok are watching to see how Trump tries to resolve a thicket of regulatory, legal, financial and geopolitical issues with his signature.

In 2020, Trump issued executive orders banning dealings with ByteDance and the owners of the Chinese messaging app WeChat. Courts ended up blocking the orders, but less than a year ago Congress overwhelmingly passed a law citing national security concerns to ban TikTok unless ByteDance sold it to an approved buyer.

Trump on Sunday said he had asked TikTok’s U.S. service providers to continue supporting the platform and app while he prepared to sign an executive order to stop the ban for now.

“The order will also confirm that there will be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before my order,” Trump posted on Truth Social, his social networking site.

The law that Congress passed and now-former President Joe Biden signed in April allowed for a 90-day extension if there had been progress toward a sale before the statute’s effective date. Less certain is whether that provision can be applied retroactively, according to Sarah Kreps, director of Cornell University’s Tech Policy Institute.

“Executive orders cannot override existing laws,” Kreps said. “It’s not clear that the new president has that authority to issue the 90-day extension of a law that’s already gone into effect.”

Kreps also doubts the conditions for a delay exist at this point without so much as even a potential buyer being named to prove that a sale was moving along.

But Alan Rozenshtein, a University of Minnesota law professor, has written that the law also empowers the president to decide what constitutes a “qualified divestiture” — suggesting Trump could have discretion to say whether or when ByteDance meets the terms of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act.

Although ByteDance spent months repeating it wasn’t interested in selling, Beijing on Monday also signaled a possible easing on China’s stance on TikTok to allow it to be divested from its Chinese parent company. China’s vice president held meetings with Vice President JD Vance and Tesla tech titan Elon Musk on Sunday.

Until now, it was widely believed that Beijing would not allow the sale of TikTok, which had come to embody China’s defiance in the face of “U.S. robbery.” However, TikTok was among several issues brought up in a phone call between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump on Friday, though details were not available.

Trump on Monday said he is looking to have the U.S. government broker a deal for 50% control of TikTok, adding that “every rich person” has called him about acquiring the social media platform.

“I think the U.S. should be entitled to get half of TikTok and, congratulations, TikTok has a good partner and that would be worth, you know, could be $500 billion,” Trump said. “The numbers are crazy, but it’s worthless” without a U.S. buyer.

The Justice Department is generally tasked with enforcing the laws of the federal government. Trump’s executive order instructs the U.S. attorney general not to take any action to enforce the TikTok ban for 75 days “to allow my Administration an opportunity to determine the appropriate course forward in an orderly way that protects national security while avoiding an abrupt shutdown of a communications platform used by millions of Americans.”

Such a move might itself be subject to legal scrutiny but would buy time for TikTok.

Trump’s efforts to save TikTok may put him at odds with some of the House members and senators who voted for the law, which received broad bipartisan support. House Speaker Mike Johnson called ByteDance’s ownership “a very dangerous thing,” and said he expected a full sale to happen.

“I think we will enforce the law,” Johnson told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” on Sunday.

Legislators now stand to “look a little bit silly” if the ban doesn’t last, Kreps said.

Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, in a message posted on X, listed a number of state and federal agencies, and private entities, that might be willing to go to court to get the ban enforced.

“Any company that hosts, distributes, services, or otherwise facilitates communist-controlled TikTok could face hundreds of billions of dollars of ruinous liability under the law, not just from DOJ, but also under securities law, shareholder lawsuits, and state AGs,” Cotton noted.

I don’t believe Trump had legal authority to retroactively change the law given that there was no negotiation in progress.

If not, this is a certified circus. But is Senator Cotton going to challenge Trump? Anyone?

However, I also think the law was misguided in the first place.

Regardless, a 75-day clock is ticking. It could take take that long for any court challenge, so all these points are likely moot.

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