Donald Trump said he will “probably” give TikTok a 90-day extension

Donald Trump says he will “probably” give TikTok a 90-day extension to avoid being shut down in the US.

US President-elect Donald Trump said on Saturday that he will “most likely” give TikTok a 90-day extension to reach an agreement that would allow the popular video-sharing platform to avoid a US ban.

“I think that would certainly be an option that we would look at. The 90-day extension will most likely be done because it is the appropriate thing to do. You know, it is the appropriate thing to do. We have to look at it carefully. It is a very big problem. If I decide to do that, I will probably announce it on Monday,” he said in statements to the NBC television network, referring to the day of his presidential inauguration in Washington.

In any case, Trump indicated that he has not made a final decision regarding the Sunday deadline for TikTok's Chinese parent company to sell the platform to a non-Chinese buyer or face a ban in the United States.

A 90-day extension with specific conditions is provided for in the law passed last year and recently declared constitutional, but Trump could only order it on Monday, when he takes office, while the deadline expires on Sunday.

For its part, TikTok warned that it will go “black” on Sunday unless it receives “clarity and guarantees” on its legal situation. The White House called the Chinese company's position “a deception.”

A law banning mobile app stores and internet hosting services from distributing TikTok to American users goes into effect on Sunday. Under the law passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden last year, TikTok's China-based parent company had nine months to sell the platform's US operations to an authorized buyer. The law allows the sitting president to grant an extension if the sale is underway.

TikTok's popularity soared during the Covid-19 pandemic declared in 2020, as people enduring government-enforced lockdowns in different countries relied heavily on the internet for fun and entertainment. In September 2021, TikTok announced that it had 1 billion monthly users worldwide.

Washington's stated aim with this regulation is to reduce the risk of Beijing spying on or manipulating TikTok users, particularly the app's 170 million US users. The company is adamant that it has never shared user data with the Chinese regime.

Trump has signaled that he could intervene on TikTok's behalf. However, the company has said that unless the outgoing Biden administration provides "definitive" assurances that the law will not be enforced, it will then be forced to "disappear." The current US government left the matter to the incoming administration.