On Monday, President Trump signed an executive order pausing a law banning TikTok and providing a liability shield to the popular video app’s business partners.
According to the order, the law will be paused for 75 days, and companies that work with TikTok will not be held liable.
The order’s text stated that this will give Trump’s administration time “to pursue a resolution that protects national security while saving a platform used by 170 million Americans.”
“Essentially, with TikTok, I have the right to sell or close it,” Trump stated from the Oval Office after signing the executive action on Monday. “We may need to get approval from China. I am not sure. I’m confident they will approve.”
Trump stated that his administration will work on “a joint venture” between the United States and undisclosed other entities.
“I think you have a lot of people who would be interested,” said the president.
Trump’s action is linked to a TikTok law that went into effect Sunday, making it a crime — punishable by hefty fines — for businesses to support TikTok as long as the service is controlled by ByteDance, a Beijing-based tech company.
Lawmakers from both parties, who passed the law in April, are concerned that TikTok may collaborate with the Chinese government to use the app for spying or nefarious data collection.
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court ruled that the app’s “well-supported” national security concerns justify a forced sale — and if ByteDance retained ownership of TikTok, the clampdown would begin on January 19.
In response, on the eve of that date, TikTok’s web hosting and cloud infrastructure providers, including Oracle and Akamai, removed the video app.
Google and Apple have removed TikTok from their app stores. TikTok also took the dramatic step of turning off its servers, leaving millions of Americans in the dark for approximately 14 hours.
However, service was restored Sunday morning after Donald Trump, the president-elect at the time, wrote on Truth Social that he planned to take executive action to postpone the ban law’s start date and provide legal cover to TikTok’s business partners once he entered the White House.
Companies responded differently to Trump’s social media post. TikTok turned its servers back on and sent a notification to all users, crediting Trump with the app’s return. Oracle and Akamai have reinstated web support.
However, Apple and Google are holding out. And that’s because, under the law, returning a ByteDance-owned TikTok to app stores is illegal and could result in billions of dollars in penalties. Legal experts believe that Trump’s executive action will make little difference.
Apple, Google, Oracle, and Akamai did not respond to requests for comment.
While Trump’s executive action on Monday seeks to clarify the legal landscape for TikTok, constitutional scholar Alan Rozenshtein of the University of Minnesota Law School argues that attempting to extend the law’s start date and shield companies from liability does not change a congressional act.
“Those actions do not prevent the law from being in effect. And it does not prevent, say, Oracle from violating the law, which it is currently doing, according to Rozenshtein.
The law makes one exception: TikTok can continue to operate if Trump certifies to Congress that “significant progress” has been made toward TikTok’s separation from ByteDance ownership.
The law requires Trump to show Congress that legally binding agreements regarding TikTok ownership changes are in the works.
According to Rozenshtein, if Trump tells Congress that those events occurred when they did not in order to extend the ban’s legal start date, “that would effectively mean one of his first acts as president would be lying to Congress.”
Some legal experts anticipate that a tech company will challenge Trump’s executive action in court, seeking a “declaratory judgement,” or a ruling that will clarify the muddy legal picture.
They believe Apple and Google are concerned about potential shareholder lawsuits over the market value hit that the big tech companies may face if they violate a federal statute.
One important aspect of the TikTok ban law is that it is up to the White House to interpret and enforce it — even if that means technically violating the law’s requirements.
“The law confers an extraordinary amount of power upon the office of the president,” said Ryan Calo, a University of Washington law professor specializing in technology policy.
Still, Rozenshtein contends that any legal shield promised by Trump through executive action will not be upheld in court.
“This is not a power the president has, and he cannot wish it into existence merely by saying something and calling it an executive order,” he told reporters.
Another risk for Apple, Google, Oracle, and other companies that support TikTok is that Trump may later turn against the video app and try to use the law to retaliate.
“The minute Trump withdraws his support — if he does — that’s when TikTok goes dark,” Calo told reporters. “And that’s why everyone is currying Donald Trump’s favor.”