President-elect Trump could keep his pledge to “save” TikTok -– and still address national security concerns that spurred Congress to authorize a ban — by brokering a sale of the Chinese-owned app to a US buyer, experts told The Post.
China-based ByteDance has until Jan. 19 to completely divest its stake in TikTok or face a total US ban of the app.
In a last-ditch scramble to nix the law, ByteDance and TikTok have appealed to the Supreme Court – and cozied up to Trump in the hope that he can somehow intervene.
The Supreme Court agreed to take up the case on Wednesday and has scheduled oral arguments for Jan. 10 — just nine days before the ban takes effect.
A US appeals court previously rejected TikTok’s bid to block the bill in a 3-0 decision, which suggests the company faces an uphill battle to win a late reprieve.
If Trump agrees that TikTok should remain online in the US and decides to get involved, a full divestiture is the only realistic path forward, according to Michael Sobolik, senior fellow at American Foreign Policy Council and author of “Countering China’s Great Game.”
“If you really want TikTok to operate in the United States, and if you want it to operate safely for Americans, then there needs to be a complete separation from its parent company,” Sobolik said. “And there cannot be any sort of ownership or control, direct or indirect, from a foreign adversary government. I don’t think there’s any alternative.”
Trump – who led the original push to ban TikTok during his first term – said at a Monday press conference that he has a “warm spot in my heart” for TikTok and would “take a look” at the situation. Soon after, Trump met with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Details from the meeting have yet to emerge and it’s unclear whether the talks between Trump and Chew yielded any progress toward a resolution.
Representatives for TikTok and the Trump transition team did not return requests for comment.
