Washington — On Monday, President Trump enacted an executive order instructing the Justice Department to refrain from enforcing a law that would effectively ban TikTok for the next 75 days.
This order directs the Justice Department not to impose any penalties against “any entity for any noncompliance” with the law.
This past weekend, the highly popular short-form video application temporarily went offline in the U.S., just hours before a bipartisan law was set to take effect, requiring TikTok’s China-based parent company, ByteDance, to divest by January 19 to avoid being banned from U.S. app stores and web-hosting services.
TikTok argued that selling the company was not feasible within the nine-month timeframe given, but their challenge was turned down by a unanimous decision from the Supreme Court last Friday.
Trump, who previously sought to prohibit the app due to national security concerns during his first term, expressed a desire to “save” TikTok before taking office again. On Monday, he acknowledged that the U.S. “has bigger problems” and remarked that he has a “warm spot” for the application.
The executive order indicates that the Trump administration will reevaluate sensitive intelligence related to national security concerns “and assess the adequacy of the mitigation methods TikTok has implemented to date.”
“I have a unique constitutional duty with regard to the national security of the United States and the management of foreign policy, along with other essential executive functions. To fulfill these duties, I aim to consult my advisors, including the heads of relevant departments and agencies, about the national security issues raised by TikTok, and to seek a resolution that safeguards national security while preserving a platform utilized by 170 million Americans,” the order states.
