 "TikTok ban to test Trump as deal-maker after Biden, SC put ball in his court")
After the US Supreme Court upheld the law which forces TikTok to be banned unless its parent company ByteDance divest from the app, the ball is now in US President-elect Donald Trump’s court. While the world is grappling with two wars, safeguarding TikTok will be the first challenge Trump will deal with once he comes back to office.
Before the Supreme Court’s ruling, outgoing US President Joe Biden’s administration made it clear that they would hand over the responsibility to implement the law regarding TikTok to the incoming president. Shortly after the court’s ruling, Trump took to TruthSocial to state that he would review the situation. He asked people to respect the Supreme Court’s decision and give him some time to deal with the matter.
“My decision on TikTok will be made in the not-too-distant future, but I must have time to review the situation. Stay tuned!” he said. After Trump’s post, TikTok CEO Shou Chew shared a video message on Friday thanking the incoming US President-elect Donald Trump.
“I want to thank President Trump for his commitment to work with us to find a solution that keeps TikTok available in the United States,” he said. “This is a strong stand for the First Amendment and against arbitrary censorship.”
Impact Shorts
More ShortsTrump’s team fought for TikTok as well
While the Supreme Court was considering the case, Trump’s legal team also asked the justices to delay the decision and give him some time to find a solution to the matter. “President Trump alone possesses the consummate dealmaking expertise, the electoral mandate, and the political will to negotiate a resolution to save the platform,” the brief read.
However, the court did not turn in Trump’s favour. With the Friday ruling from the apex court, the question of whether the popular social media site is going to continue to operate in the US will now be in the hands of politicians or businessmen and not in the hands of the judges. Amid the chaos, several Trump supporters in Congress are floating the idea of Trump using his presidential executive order on Monday afternoon to delay implementation of the ban.
Meanwhile, Trump is doing his share of political manoeuvring to ensure that the app is not banned. According to BBC, Trump spoke to Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday and the topic of TikTok did come up. But this road is not an easy one for Trump since his foreign policy team is filled with China hawks like Marco Rubio and Michael Waltz – who represent a popular view on the right that the Chinese communists are more than an economic rival, they are a geopolitical adversary.
Trump doesn’t have a lot of options
The situation is complex for the president-elect since he spent almost a year and a half campaigning with the support of social media influencers who rely heavily on TikTok. There are not a lot of options available to Trump in the current circumstances. He can use his one-time power to extend the deadline of the ban. Following this, he has to convince TikTok to separate itself from ByteDance.
Since the Supreme Court has ruled on the matter, a precedent has been set and an amendment to the law will be hard to usher in at such short notice. If somehow the incoming president can ultimately find a way to satisfy national security concerns while keeping TikTok up and running in the US, it would be seen as a significant political victory for Trump, right at the very start of his second stint as the president.
The whole saga is turning out to be ironic since during his first term Trump tried to ban the popular video-sharing app. This time as well, it was the Conservatives who were pushing for the legislation, citing national security concerns.
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