The Biden administration is exploring options to keep TikTok available in the United States as the final days leading up to the ban creep closer.
This news comes as Americans are seemingly dumping the digital tea into the harbor by flocking to another Chinese-owned app, RedNote.
“Americans shouldn’t expect to see TikTok suddenly banned on Sunday,” an administration official said, continuing that the administration is “exploring options.”
This is according to a report by NBC. The report calls Deputy White House Chief of Staff Bruce Reed the key contact for communication with those urging the administration to halt the ban.
If the administration could delay the ban, it would put the responsibility on incoming President-elect Donald Trump, who will be inaugurated in four days.
Trump has shown sympathy for the platform, filing a brief on Dec. 27, when his legal team requested a postponement to allow his incoming administration to address the national security concerns through “political negotiations” rather than an outright ban.
Mike Waltz, Trump’s pick for national security advisor, told Fox News that the incoming president supports keeping the platform under strict conditions.
Still, with the ban looming before the nation, TikTok plans to shut down its app nationwide on Sunday unless the U.S. Supreme Court intervenes.
Signed in April by President Joe Biden, the law mandates that TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, sell by Jan. 19, 2025, or face a nationwide ban, citing national security and content manipulation concerns.
Federal lawmakers argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 10 that the ban was necessary to safeguard sensitive data. TikTok’s legal team argued that it violates First Amendment Rights and stated that lawmakers have failed to provide sufficient evidence related to those concerns.
Pam Bondi, Trump’s pick for attorney general, was questioned about the ban during her confirmation hearing this week, and she declined to commit to enforcing it.
The situation surrounding the ban reflects conflicting approaches by both the outgoing and incoming administrations, while enforcement of the ban remains a legal and political question.
The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to announce the ban’s fate by the end of the week.
Sen. Edward J. Markey, D-MA, argued the ban was rushed through without fully considering its “broader consequences.”
Markey introduced new legislation alongside Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., that would amend the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act and extend the ban’s deadline.
Yesterday, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., blocked efforts to halt the ban, saying that the platform is a “Chinese communist spy app.”
Cotton said Congress didn’t “pull the rug” out from under the platform, noting that Trump tried to block the platform in 2020.
“Senate Democrats attempted to extend the deadline for the ban of the Chinese communist spy app TikTok,” Cotton wrote on X. “I blocked this effort because TikTok is a harmful app that endangers our national security and poisons our children.”
