US President-elect Donald Trump announced that he will soon make a decision regarding the operations of the TikTok platform after the Supreme Court upheld a law requiring TikTok to be banned unless its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, sells it to an American firm, according to his post on Truth Social .
On Friday, January 17, the US Supreme Court declined to save TikTok, citing a valid national security threat due to the platform’s ownership by a Chinese company.
Trump said the Supreme Court’s decision was expected and must be respected. He added that he needs time to evaluate the situation
In a comment to CNN, Trump added: “It ultimately goes up to me.” When asked whether he would take steps to block the ban, he said he would decide on this soon.
“Congress has given me the decision, so I’ll be making the decision,” Trump said.
The idea of banning TikTok in the US originated during Trump’s first presidency, a fact which was also referenced in the Supreme Court’s ruling.
“President Trump determined that TikTok raised particular concerns, noting that the platform ‘automatically captures vast swaths of information from its users’ and is susceptible to being used to further the interests of the Chinese government,” the court stated.
President Joe Biden’s administration has indicated it will leave the enforcement of the TikTok ban in Trump’s hands. The platform is set to be banned on January 19, one day before Trump’s inauguration.
Over the years, Trump has made a complete turnaround on the platform, expressing a desire to preserve TikTok’s operations in the US.
He also requested the Supreme Court to temporarily halt the enforcement of the ban to give him time, as president, to negotiate the sale of TikTok.