TikTok puts the pressure on Trump
Chris Delmas/AFP via Getty Images
- TikTok shut down on Saturday night for its 170+ million US users.
- A message appears on TikTok indicating that the company is relying on Donald Trump to save the app.
- TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew recently thanked Trump for his "commitment to work with us."
TikTok stopped working on Saturday night.
And in its final message — for now — to its 170 million-plus US users, the app indicates who TikTok is relying on to save the platform: President Donald Trump.
"A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the US. Unfortunately that means you can't use TikTok for now," the message that popped up in the app on Saturday night said. "We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned!"
Trump, set to take office on Monday, hasn't committed to a solution to save TikTok.
On Saturday, however, the president-elect told NBC News that he will "most likely" give TikTok a 90-day extension from the ban.
"I think that would be, certainly, an option that we look at. The 90-day extension is something that will be most likely done, because it's appropriate. You know, it's appropriate. We have to look at it carefully. It's a very big situation," Trump told the outlet.
Spokespeople for TikTok and Trump did not respond to a request for comment.
In the days leading up to the ban, TikTok hasn't been shy about pointing fingers at who has and hasn't been helpful in the company's efforts to keep the app alive in the US.
On Friday, after the Biden administration said it was leaving the enforcement of the ban up to Trump, TikTok issued a statement saying "both the Biden White House and the Department of Justice have failed to provide the necessary clarity and assurance to the service providers that are integral to maintaining TikTok's availability to over 170 million Americans."
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement on Friday that President Joe Biden's position was that TikTok should remain available to US users but under American ownership.
TikTok hasn't publicly expressed interest in selling the app despite interested investors.
The same day, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew praised Trump and thanked the president-elect "for his commitment to work with us to find a solution that keeps TikTok available in the United States."
That TikTok and its CEO are relying on Trump to save the app represents a 180-degree shift from just a few years ago, when Trump, in 2020, also wanted to ban the platform.
Trump's position on the ban changed on the campaign trail last year and the president-elect in December made a last-ditch effort to save the app by asking the Supreme Court to put a hold on the law.
On Saturday, before the app shut down, the Biden administration called TikTok's statement on going dark a "stunt" and that there was "no reason for TikTok or other companies to take actions in the next few days before the Trump Administration takes office on Monday."