CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — Millions of people across the country are back on TikTok after the app went dark overnight.
President-elect Donald Trump said he’s going to pause the ban through an executive order on his first day of office. His goal is to make a deal with the Chinese social media platform’s owners to protect national security.
“We’re really in kind of uncharted territory when it comes to understanding what eventually will happen with this social media platform that a lot of Americans are comfortable with or utilizing,” said Dr. Michael Bitzer, Catawba College political scientist.
The law banning the popular app passed with bipartisan support in April, and the U.S. Supreme Court upheld it late last week, saying the risk to national security outweighed concerns about limiting free speech.
Now, Trump’s second term will start with an executive order to bring the app back, at least for a little while.
“My understanding of the legislation is that the president is allowed one extension period by which the platform can continue to operate in the United States,” said Bitzer.
But one of the caveats is there has to be active negotiations going on for someone to buy TikTok from its parent company, Bytedance. Trump said he wants the U.S. to have 50 percent ownership and the current owners to have the other half.
“He’s, you know, searching for somebody to basically buy TikTok,” said Bitzer. “He’s also made an assumption that perhaps the federal government will become invested in it. That will pose a lot of questions about the legality of that particular aspect, if that is indeed included in the executive order.”
Trump is the one who originally brought up the idea of banning the platform back in 2020.
“I think he changed his tune when he was on the platform and saw the prevalence over half of the country is on TikTok and you know the outcry about this particular legislation,” said Bitzer.
After the grace period, if TikTok isn’t sold, the ban will go back into effect.
