The TikTok Ban Looms But Nobody Can Agree On What That Means
The clock is ticking on TikTok. Or is it? And if it is, whose hand is on the alarm setting as of this morning?

Sign up for smart news, insights, and analysis on the biggest financial stories of the day.
The clock is ticking on TikTok. Or is it? And if it is, whose hand is on the alarm setting as of this morning?
Sunday, January 19, a day before the next presidential inauguration, marks the deadline for TikTok to sell its US assets or face a ban. But while parent company ByteDance isn’t selling — at least, for now — it remains unclear if the ban will actually go into effect, or to what extent. A flurry of reporting across major outlets this week offers a glimpse into what might happen to everyone’s favorite short-form video app/hypothetical tool for Beijing geopolitical supremacy.
Can I Have an Extension?
The bill does include language that would permit a 90-day extension before a ban would go into place, but only if ByteDance presents a credible plan to divest — which it hasn’t. One Biden White House official told Bloomberg that the pre-inauguration timing left implementation of the ban solely up to the next administration, and said the Biden White House does not intend to extend the deadline nor does it believe it has the authority to do so. In oral arguments last week, TikTok asked the Supreme Court to delay the ban; as of Thursday, the court had not ruled on the case either way (though a ruling on the bill’s constitutionality is expected by Sunday). On Wednesday, a group of Democratic senators introduced the Extend the TikTok Deadline Act, which would postpone the prospective ban for 270 days. On Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer backed the bill.
Which is all just a long way of saying that enforcement of the sell-or-ban bill — which received overwhelming bipartisan support when it breezed through Congress last April — is up to Trump 2.0. The incoming president, of course, ushered in talks of a TikTok ban during his first term in 2020; now, after his campaign’s successful use of the platform, his stance appears to have softened:
- On Wednesday, The Washington Post reported Trump is weighing a (legally dubious) executive order to delay the ban by 60 or 90 days to buy time to negotiate a sale or alternative outcome. Incoming National Security Advisor Michael Waltz told Fox & Friends, “We will put measures in place to keep TikTok from going dark.”
- One possible buyer considered by Chinese officials for the app: Elon Musk, sources told Bloomberg on Monday. And on inauguration day, Musk and other Silicon Valley titans are likely to be seated in the VIP section right next to TikTok CEO Shou Chew, who has been invited by Trump’s team, The New York Times reported.
Another likely outcome may be a soft ban: The app would be removed from Apple’s and Google’s respective app stores, making future downloads and updates impossible, though users with it already downloaded would — again, for now — still be able to access the platform. Sources did, however, tell Reuters that TikTok will cease US operations on Sunday, barring a reprieve.
Red Notice: As the TikTok maybe-ban looms, scores of US users have downloaded RedNote, a social media app with Chinese origins and one of several waiting in the wings to replace TikTok if and when its dance ends. RedNote has rocketed to the top of domestic app store rankings. Which means this entire news cycle may be on repeat sooner rather than later.