Donald Trump is exploring options to rescue Chinese-owned video app TikTok from a nationwide ban, according to one of his top advisers.
Mike Waltz, slated to serve as Trump’s national security adviser, confirmed on Wednesday that Trump was exploring options to “preserve” the app after a report in The Washington Post claimed he was considering an executive order to stop a federal ban from being enforced on January 19.
“We’re going to find a way to preserve it but protect people’s data,” Waltz said in an interview with Fox News. “I don’t want to get ahead of our executive orders, but we’re going to create this space to put that deal in place.”
The Washington Post report, which cited anonymous sources, said that Trump, who officially enters office a day after the TikTok ban is supposed to come into effect, would issue an executive order suspending its enforcement for 60 to 90 days.
The report did not offer specifics on the legal ramifications of the move, which would presumably buy the administration time to negotiate a sale or alternative solution.
Reports of the plan came to light as the Supreme Court mulls oral arguments in a legal challenge to the bipartisan statute brought by TikTok, its China-based parent company ByteDance and users of the app.
At the time of reporting, judges seemed likely to uphold the law, which requires ByteDance to divest TikTok on national security grounds or face a ban on new downloads on the Apple or Google app stores in one of its biggest markets.
Trump, who tried to ban TikTok during his first term in office over national security concerns, changed his tune during his 2024 presidential campaign, pledging to “save” the app, which he credited with helping him attract the youth vote.
On Wednesday, Pam Bondi, Trump’s pick for attorney general, dodged a question during a Senate hearing on whether she’d uphold a TikTok ban.
A report on the NBC network said the Biden administration has been weighing options to keep the social media platform available to users beyond Sunday, in a bid to defer the decision on a ban to Trump.
“Americans shouldn’t expect to see TikTok suddenly banned on Sunday,” an administration official told the broadcaster.
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