On Sunday, Speaker Mike Johnson aimed to clear up the buzz around whether President-elect Donald Trump plans to bring TikTok back early in his second term without the company agreeing to sell to a U.S. owner.
“We’re going to uphold the law,” Johnson stated on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.” This came just after Trump mentioned that he would “most likely” give TikTok a 90-day window to keep running in the U.S.
Not long before Johnson’s comments, TikTok stopped its operations in the U.S., cutting off user access. In response, Apple, Google, and Microsoft took down the app from their stores, blocking any new downloads.
A bipartisan bill passed last year and signed by President Joe Biden effectively banned TikTok in the U.S. unless it was sold to a U.S.-based owner. Johnson’s comments arrive shortly after TikTok’s last effort with the Supreme Court failed to overturn the law.
Despite supporting the ban in his first term, Trump now seems to support TikTok’s presence in the U.S. Before the Supreme Court could hear the case, his team filed a brief asking for a pause on the law to allow his new administration to seek a resolution.
This law took effect just as Trump was gearing up for his second term. On Saturday, Trump told NBC News that he would “most likely” extend TikTok’s operation by 90 days, although this has sparked disagreement from some senators.
“I think we’ll certainly consider that option,” Trump said during a phone interview. “A 90-day extension seems likely because it’s the right thing to do. We need to examine this situation closely. It’s a significant issue.”
Johnson mentioned that he believes Trump’s plan involves bringing TikTok back through a sale, rather than letting it continue as is.
“When President Trump posted on Truth [Social] saying ‘Save TikTok,’ we interpreted that as his intention to enforce a real change of ownership,” Johnson shared on Sunday.
“The issue isn’t the platform itself but the influence of the Chinese Communist Party on how it operates. They’ve been pushing harmful content onto American youth, glorifying violence and other dangerous themes, while collecting data from American users. It’s very concerning,” he added.
Right before Johnson’s statements, Senators Tom Cotton and Pete Ricketts also voiced their opposition to Trump’s extension idea, applauding the ban’s enforcement.
“We commend the likes of Amazon, Apple, Google, and Microsoft for adhering to the law and ceasing operations with ByteDance and TikTok. Other companies should follow suit. Violating this law risks severe financial penalties,” Cotton and Ricketts declared.
“With the law now in effect, there’s no legal ground for any kind of ‘extension’. For TikTok to come back, ByteDance must comply with the law’s requirements by severing all links with Communist China through a sale,” they further explained.
The current legislation doesn’t grant the president the power to make a 90-day extension without evidence that ByteDance is pursuing a sale to a U.S. entity.
“The President may allow a one-time extension of up to 90 days only if it’s certified to Congress that a clear path towards a qualified divestiture has been identified,” the law states, emphasizing that there must be “substantial progress” towards such a sale.
Johnson expressed his skepticism about ByteDance’s intentions on Sunday.
“The law is clearly specific, and the only way to prolong the timeline is if a genuine deal is in motion,” Johnson pointed out. “President Trump is probably interested in making this work, given his penchant for making deals. We’re hopeful that this can allow 270 million American users to enjoy the app safely, without compromising their data to adversaries.”
