The Biden Administration is “exploring options” to keep TikTok around in the U.S., even as the popular app races towards a ban that will go into effect on Jan. 19, NBC News reported on Thursday.
“Americans shouldn’t expect to see TikTok suddenly banned on Sunday,” an administration official told the outlet.
President Joe Biden signed a law last April banning TikTok from the States, unless the app — which is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance — sells its American business. The chief concern U.S. lawmakers say they have with TikTok is that it could double as a spyware app for the Chinese communist government; TikTok, per Chinese law, is required to share user data if asked to do so.
Now, the Biden Administration is signaling it wants to keep the app around in some capacity, at the same time President-elect Donald Trump has also said he wants to “save” TikTok.
For his part, Trump is considering an executive order to protect the app, which he credits with helping attract many youth voters his way, The Washington Post reports.
But to make the matter more confusing, a White House official told NBC News the Biden Administration would enforce the ban if it remains in place. The U.S. Supreme Court is weighing the legality of banning TikTok, but a last minute overturn of the law does not appear likely, based on comments made by several justices during a hearing last week.
“We are not considering deferring enforcement,” the White House official said of the looming ban. “Statutorily, we don’t believe we have the authority to do that.”
TikTok has indicated it will shut down the app completely for users on Sunday, should the ban remain in place.
