President Donald Trump signed an executive order last month giving TikTok a 75-day extension to comply with a law that would ban the app if it is not sold. TikTok did not immediately respond to a BBC News request for comment. TikTok, which is used by over 170 million Americans, is once again available on the US app stores of Apple and Google after he delayed the implementation of a ban on the Chinese-owned social media platform until April 5.
The Trump administration assured Apple and Google that they would not be held accountable for permitting downloads, and the ban would not yet be implemented, according to Bloomberg, which was the first to report on TikTok’s return to US app stores.
Former President Joe Biden signed the restriction into law after it was approved by Congress in a bipartisan vote. In order to prevent an outright ban, it mandated that ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, sell the US version of the platform to an impartial third party.
China might utilize TikTok as a tool for political manipulation and espionage, according to the Biden administration.
TikTok and China have refuted those claims on several occasions. In the past, Beijing has also turned down proposals to sell TikTok’s US business.
US senators from both parties backed the statute that banned the app, and the Supreme Court eventually upheld it.
During his first time in office, Trump himself had advocated for the app’s ban, but he seemed to change his mind during the presidential election last year.
He claimed to have a “warm spot” for the app and boasted about the billions of views his videos received during the previous presidential campaign.
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Millions of users received a popup message thanking Trump by name when the app resumed operations in the US last month.
Following Trump’s election triumph in November, TikTok CEO Shou Chew met him in Mar-a-Lago and went to his inauguration.
Trump has expressed his desire to work with the Chinese corporation to reach a compromise that adheres to the spirit of the law rather than its wording, even suggesting that TikTok might be jointly owned.
He recently stated at an artificial intelligence news conference, “What I’m thinking of saying to someone is buy it and give half to the US, half, and we’ll give you a permit.”
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Additionally, he stated that he would be amenable to selling the software to billionaire Elon Musk, who is in charge of the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, and Larry Ellison, a co-founder of Oracle.
Former buyers of TikTok have included Canadian businessman Kevin O’Leary, a celebrity investor on Shark Tank, the US equivalent of Dragon’s Den, and millionaire Frank McCourt.
The world’s largest YouTuber, Jimmy Donaldson, popularly known as MrBeast, has stated that he is in the running after several investors reached out to him after he expressed interest on social media.
SOURCE: BBC
