President-elect Trump has recently said that he opposes the ban on TikTok, but it’s not clear if he’ll be able to stop it from going into effect–or prioritize doing so. Veuer’s Matt Hoffman reports.
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00:00Will President-elect Trump commute TikTok's legal death sentence?
00:03As of now, the app is scheduled to be banned in the United States starting January 19th
00:08if its Chinese parent company ByteDance doesn't divest.
00:11According to Forbes, Trump himself attempted to ban TikTok in 2020,
00:15but has more recently said he opposes a ban.
00:17He posted this video to Truth Social in September.
00:20For all of those that want to save TikTok in America, vote for Trump.
00:24However, the January 19th deadline is before Trump would be inaugurated.
00:28Even if his administration declined to enforce the ban, law professor Alan Rosenstein told
00:33Politico that apps and service providers might still be reluctant to host the app.
00:37Rosenstein says, quote,
00:39You're still violating the law, and Trump is incredibly fickle,
00:42and it's just like, why would you do this?
00:44Professor Milton Muller agrees, telling Fast Company,
00:47Given the fact that he originally attempted to ban it,
00:49his current opposition probably should be interpreted as more opportunistic than
00:53principled, and thus it is hard to tell how much priority he would assign to it.
00:58Other possibilities include a successful court challenge to the ban,
01:01a congressional repeal, or a sale to a new owner.
01:04Meanwhile, TikTok is also facing trouble north of the border.
01:07According to the New York Times,
01:09Canada just ordered the app's offices in that country closed over national security concerns.