Donald Trump said he will “most likely” give TikTok a 90-day reprieve from the ban that is set to take effect on Sunday, the eve of being sworn in as the 47th president of the United States.
Trump told NBC News that the announcement will likely be made on Monday once he takes office.
This comes after the social media platform warned that it “will remain dark” on Sunday unless the outgoing Biden administration provides guarantees that the ban will not be implemented.
The Supreme Court on Friday upheld a law banning the app in the United States unless its China-based parent company, ByteDance, sells the platform by January 19. ByteDance declined to look for a buyer.
TikTok said late Friday that the White House and Justice Department “failed to provide necessary clarity and assurance to service providers that are integral to maintaining the availability of TikTok.”
But White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Saturday that TikTok's warning that the app was about to go dark was a “stunt.”
“We see no reason for TikTok or other companies to take action in the next few days before the Trump administration takes office on Monday,” she said.
“We have made our position clear and straightforward: Actions to implement this law will fall to the next administration. So TikTok and other companies should address any concerns with them.”
Trump said on Friday that he spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping and they discussed TikTok, among other issues.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is expected to be among the tech executives at Trump's inauguration on Monday.
US national security officials have warned that Chinese spies may use the app's data collection to track US federal employees and contractors, something TikTok has denied.
On Friday, the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., accused the United States of unfairly suppressing TikTok, and a spokesman said: “China will take all necessary measures to resolutely protect its legitimate rights and interests.”
The platform is very popular among the 170 million users it says it has in the United States, some of whom are lobbying members of Congress against the ban. It has also been a valuable tool for American political campaigns to reach young voters.
Trump previously supported banning TikTok, but recently announced a “warm spot” for the app, touting the billions of views he says his videos attracted on the platform during last year's presidential campaign.
Under the law passed last April, the American version of the app will be removed from app stores and web hosting services in the coming days.
Content creators who rely on the app for revenue told the BBC that if it was closed in the United States, their lives would change in an extraordinary way.
“Indirectly, TikTok has been the majority of my income because all the brands want to promote their stuff on the app,” Nicole Bloomgarden, a fashion designer and artist who uses TikTok, told the BBC.
TikTok did not respond to BBC inquiries about what it means to potentially “go dark” in the US.
But one possible outcome is what happened in India when the app fell under the jurisdiction of the authorities there.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi moved to shut down dozens of Chinese-owned apps, including TikTok, in 2020 after a deadly brawl with Chinese forces along disputed border areas.
Two weeks later, TikTok's 200 million users in India were no longer able to log in after Indian internet providers were directed to block access to the app.
App stores run by Google and Apple have also stopped offering TikTok. The app did not legally challenge India's ban.
Since the ban, shorts platforms from competitors have largely filled the void with TikTok knockoffs Meta-owned Instagram Reels and Google-owned YouTube Shorts.
Meta is widely seen as a net winner from the TikTok ban in India.
