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Monday, January 20, 2025

Trump to restore TikTok; insists on 50 per cent U.S. ownership

On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed an appeal against the law banning TikTok.

• January 19, 2025
Tiktok and Trump
Donald Trump and TikTok

President-elect Donald Trump, on Saturday, said he will restore TikTok operations in the U.S. through an executive order, adding that he wants America to hold 50% ownership of the social media platform.

“I’m asking companies not to let TikTok stay dark! I will issue an executive order on Monday to extend the period of time before the law’s prohibitions take effect so that we can make a deal to protect our national security,” Mr Trump said in a statement on Truth Social.

Mr Trump, who will assume office as America’s 47th President on Monday, argued that the U.S. should hold 50% ownership of the social media platform.

“I would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture. By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands, and allow it to stay up. Without U.S. approval, there is no TikTok. With our approval, it is worth hundreds of billions of dollars—maybe trillions. Therefore, my initial thought is a joint venture between the current owners and/or new owners whereby the U.S. gets a 50% ownership in a joint venture set up between the U.S. and whichever purchaser we so choose,” Mr Trump said.

TikTok shut down operations in the U.S. on Sunday, following a law compelling its owner to sell the social media platform to the U.S. or risk being banned from the country.

On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed an appeal against the law banning TikTok.

Citing “national security,” the Supreme Court ruled that the law banning TikTok in the U.S. aims to protect user data from the Chinese owner of the social media platform.

“TikTok has special characteristics—a foreign adversary’s ability to leverage its control over the platform to collect vast amounts of personal data from 170 million U.S. users,” the Supreme Court decision reads. 

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