Donald Trump says 90-day delay to TikTok ban is “likely” after inauguration

Donald Trump has said that he will “most likely” give TikTok a 90-day delay to its ban in the US once he is in office.

The social media platform officially shut down in the country on Saturday (January 18) ahead of a Supreme Court deadline that had been set for Sunday.

“Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now. A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now,” was the message seen by users of the app after the shutdown.

“We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned!”

TikTok has officially shut down in the United States. pic.twitter.com/9q2gsesomm

— Pop Base (@PopBase) January 19, 2025

The future of the site was thrown into question when its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, lost an appeal last month against a US law seeking to ban it. ByteDance also said repeatedly that it was not willing to sell, although doing so would allow it to remain available in the country.

A Supreme Court ruling on Friday declared that the site would only remain available to Americans “under American ownership or other ownership that addresses the national security concerns identified by Congress in developing this law”.

With Trump’s inauguration set to take place on Monday (January 20), the outgoing Biden administration said that the timing was such that they would leave the implementation of the Court’s ruling to the incoming Trump government.

Now, Trump has given a phone interview to NBC News in which he has indicated that he will seek to give TikTok a reprieve for 90 days once he is sworn in.

“The 90-day extension is something that will be most likely done, because it’s appropriate. You know, it’s appropriate. We have to look at it carefully. It’s a very big situation,” he said.

In another interview with ABC News, he reiterated: “Well, I have the right as you know, I’m the one who is going to be calling the shots. Most likely, I’ll extend for 90 days – you have the extension for 90 days as you probably know. I’ll do that until we figure something out.”

Although ByteDance has confirmed that they are not looking to sell the app, that hasn’t stopped multiple famous faces from reaching out and expressing their interest in purchasing the platform.

Elon Musk, for example, was a name in the running. The rumours arose following the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla purchasing Twitter for a staggering $44billion in 2022 and rebranding it as X. A potential sale to Musk was valued between $40billion and $50billion.

This was soon shut down by TikTok, however, with creators saying: “We can’t be expected to comment on pure fiction.”

Shortly afterwards, YouTube sensation MrBeast told his followers that he would step up and acquire the platform to prevent it being banned in the US. He later posted a follow-up, insinuating that he and other billionaires were contemplating working together to make a bid.

The sell-or-ban measure for TikTok was issued into law by an outgoing Biden last year amid claims that the company’s ownership structure could allow the Chinese government to gain access to the data of its millions of American users.

India banned the app nationwide in 2020, while Taiwan and Afghanistan did the same in 2022.

Over 30 US states, Canada and the European Union have separately banned the app from use on government-owned devices over concerns it could pose a security risk.

The consequence of a US TikTok ban could have a significant impact on the music industry. A recent report by the platform claimed that a majority of US and UK chart-topping singles in 2024 were associated with a TikTok trend.

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