Biden won’t enforce TikTok ban, official says

WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden will not enforce a ban on the social media app TikTok that is set to take effect a day before he leaves office on Monday, a U.S. official said Thursday, leaving its fate in the hands of president-elect Donald Trump.

Congress last year, in a law signed by Biden, required TikTok’s China-based parent ByteDance to divest the company by January 19, a day before the presidential inauguration. The official said the outgoing administration left the implementation of the law — and the potential enforcement of the ban — to Trump.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal Biden administration thinking.

Trump, who once called to ban the app, has since vowed to keep it available in the US, though his transition team has not said how they intend to achieve that.

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is expected to attend Trump’s inauguration and be assigned a prime seat at the podium as the president-elect’s national security adviser signals that the incoming administration may take steps to “keep TikTok from going dark.”

Incoming national security adviser Mike Waltz told Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends” on Thursday that the federal law that could ban TikTok by Sunday also “allows for an extension as long as a viable deal is on the table.”

The push to save TikTok, like the move to ban it in the US, has crossed partisan lines. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said he spoke with Biden on Thursday to advocate for extending the deadline to ban TikTok.

“Clearly, more time is needed to find an American buyer and not disrupt the lives and livelihoods of millions of Americans, of so many influencers who have built a great network of followers,” Schumer said Thursday on the Senate floor.

Democrats had tried to pass legislation on Wednesday that would have extended the deadline, but Republican Sen. Tom Cotton from Arkansas blocked it. Cotton, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said TikTok has had plenty of time to find a buyer.

“TikTok is a Chinese communist spy app that depends on our children, harvests their data, targets them with harmful and manipulative content, and spreads communist propaganda,” Cotton said.

TikTok CEO’s are expected to sit on the podium at the inauguration along with tech billionaires Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. The people spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal planning.

Last week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a legal challenge to the statute brought by TikTok, its China-based parent company ByteDance and users of the app. The judges appeared to uphold the law, which requires ByteDance to divest TikTok on national security grounds or face a ban in one of its biggest markets.

“If the Supreme Court rules in favor of the law, President Trump has been very clear: Number one, TikTok is a great platform that many Americans use and has been great for his campaign and for getting his message out. But number two , he wants to protect their data,” Waltz said Wednesday.

“He’s a deal maker. I don’t want to get ahead of our orders, but we want to create this space to put that deal in place,” he added.

Separately on Wednesday, Pam Bondi, Trump’s pick for attorney general, dodged a question during a Senate hearing about whether she would uphold a TikTok ban.

Trump has reversed his stance on the popular app after trying to ban it during his first term in office over national security concerns. He joined TikTok during his 2024 presidential campaign, and his team used it to connect with younger voters, particularly male voters, by pushing content that was often macho and aimed to go viral. He promised to “save TikTok” during the campaign and has credited the platform with helping him win more youth votes.