Politicians scramble to save TikTok before Sunday
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Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
China's ByteDance has called America's bluff on the future of TikTok, and it's beginning to look like a smart bet.
State of play: U.S. politicians from both parties are scrambling to save the app's availability, despite having previously supported a ban.
- Leading the flip-flop caucus is President-elect Trump, who tried banning TikTok via executive order in the waning days of his first term. He now wants it to stick around, and even invited TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew to sit on the inauguration dias.
- Then there's original ban supporter Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), who this week co-sponsored a bill that would give TikTok a reprieve. That initial effort was thwarted by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), but Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) subsequently said he'd support a ban delay. You'll never guess how Schumer originally voted...
- Oh, and President Biden — who literally signed the bill into law — doesn't plan to enforce it before leaving office on Monday.
The big picture: We don't know why ByteDance hasn't divested its stake in TikTok, nor even entered into negotiations to do so.
- Maybe it's been inactive by choice. Maybe by Chinese government command. Either way, much of the opposition appears to be folding.
Zoom in: Some of the wafflers say they just want to give ByteDance more time to divest, hoping that its venture backers or suitors like Frank McCourt and Steve Mnuchin can work out a deal.
- But if the reason for the ban is really national security — i.e., protecting the data of 170 million Americans — why would you willingly put that at risk for another three or nine months?
- More importantly, ByteDance will have already seen what happens when the rubber meets the road, and would be emboldened to take that trip again.
Zoom out: There is a ton of money at stake here, including for TikTok creators, employees, investors, and competitors.
- Biden or Trump (once in office) can extend the ban by 90 days, but only if there is both "evidence of significant progress" toward divestiture and "there are in place the relevant binding legal agreements" to enable such a deal.
- Trump reportedly is considering an executive order to extend the ban, but that would mean unilaterally overturning a law — which would raise serious constitutional issues.
The bottom line: The last-minute wrangling may prove too little too late, outside of an unexpected SCOTUS save, as the legislative language is pretty ironclad. But when the D.C. vibes shift, surprising things are known to happen.
