TikTok Ban: Biden Administration Says It’s up to Trump to Figure Out Next Steps
variety.comTodd Spangler NY Digital Editor President Biden, on the eve of leaving office, is punting the issue of the U.S. government’s enforcement of the law requiring TikTok‘s Chinese parent to sell its stake in the app or face a nationwide ban to President-elect Donald Trump.
TikTok is at risk of being effectively banned in the U.S. under the federal law, which requires Beijing-based ByteDance, parent of TikTok, to enact a “qualified divestiture” by Sunday, Jan.
19. TikTok and ByteDance have appealed to the Supreme Court for an injunction to block the law’s enforcement, citing the First Amendment rights of its 170 million American users, but the tea leaves have signaled that the justices will side with the government’s arguments that the app represents a national security threat.
On Thursday, the White House indicated that it won’t move to enforce the law’s Jan. 19 deadline. “Our position on this has been clear: TikTok should continue to operate under American ownership.
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