Trump Delays 'TikTok Ban Law' on Inauguration Day... Plans for US-China Joint Venture Establishment

Plan Proposed for U.S. Company to Acquire 50 Percent Stake
TikTok Immediately Restores Service in the United States

Donald Trump, the President-elect of the United States, announced on the 20th (local time), his inauguration day, that he will sign an executive order to delay the enforcement of the law banning the Chinese video-sharing platform TikTok. Instead of selling TikTok in the U.S., he proposed a plan for a U.S. company to acquire half of the shares and operate the platform. On the same day, TikTok, which had suspended its service in the U.S. in accordance with the 'TikTok Ban Law,' immediately began restoring its service.

On that day, Trump announced through his social networking service (SNS) Truth Social, which he created, that he would extend the deadline for TikTok's U.S. business sale period specified in the TikTok Ban Law on his first day in office.

He also requested U.S. operators to prevent the suspension of TikTok services and stated that he would not hold them legally responsible under the TikTok Ban Law.

Earlier, the U.S. Congress passed the TikTok Ban Law in April last year on a bipartisan basis, citing national security threats. The background was concerns that TikTok's parent company, China's ByteDance, might collect large-scale personal information of Americans. The law includes provisions that prohibit new downloads of TikTok starting from that day if ByteDance does not sell its U.S. business rights to a U.S.-based company.

The TikTok Ban Law allows for a 90-day extension of the sale deadline if there is a 'significant progress' related to the sale. Trump is expected to invoke this provision. He explained, "Before the TikTok Ban Law takes effect, I can extend the sale period to take measures to protect national security."

Trump also proposed a new plan to operate TikTok by forming a joint venture with ByteDance, where a U.S. company would purchase 50% of TikTok's shares. He said, "We can ensure TikTok is in the hands of good people." In fact, a U.S. AI startup, Perplexity, sent a proposal to ByteDance to establish a joint venture with TikTok's U.S. entity.

Trump claimed, "Without U.S. approval, there is no TikTok, and with our approval, TikTok has a value of hundreds of billions of dollars," adding, "It could possibly be worth trillions of dollars."

Initially, during his first administration, Trump was in favor of expelling TikTok, but he reversed his stance against the TikTok ban ahead of the last presidential election.

TikTok immediately began procedures to restore its service in the U.S. The company posted on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) that day, stating, "TikTok is proceeding with service restoration procedures through agreements with our service providers," and expressed gratitude for President Trump's assurance that their service providers would not face any penalties. They added, "We will work with President Trump to seek a long-term solution to maintain TikTok in the U.S."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.