Trump gives TikTok the green light

Washington [US], December 23: US President-elect Donald Trump on December 22 signaled that he supports allowing TikTok to continue operating in the US for at least a short time, according to Reuters.
"I think we're going to have to start thinking because, you know, we got on TikTok , and we got a great response with billions of views," President-elect Trump told the crowd at AmericaFest, an annual gathering organized by conservative group Turning Point in the Arizona capital Phoenix, according to AFP.
"They brought me a chart... and when I looked at it, I said maybe we have to hold this for a little while," Mr. Trump said.
This is considered one of the signals showing that President-elect Trump opposes the possibility of TikTok leaving the US market.
Earlier in April, the US Senate passed a law requiring ByteDance, TikTok's Chinese parent company , to divest from the app, citing national security concerns.
TikTok's owners have sought to overturn the law, and the US Supreme Court has agreed to take up the case. If the court rules against ByteDance and no divestment takes place, TikTok could be banned in the US starting January 19, 2025, the day before Mr Trump takes office.
It is unclear what Mr Trump will do to reverse the divestment order from TikTok, which was overwhelmingly passed by the US Senate.
The US Justice Department has argued that China's control of TikTok poses an ongoing threat to national security, an argument supported by most US lawmakers.
Meanwhile, TikTok said the US Justice Department misrepresented the app's relationship with China. TikTok argued that the app's content recommendation engine and user data are stored in the US on cloud servers operated by US-based Oracle Corp, while content moderation decisions that affect US users are made in the US, according to Reuters.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper