Trump says he may give TikTok 90-day extension

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump said he may gave TikTok a 90-day extension.

In an exclusive interview with NBC News, Trump said he would “most likely” give TikTok a 90-day reprieve.

“I think that would be, certainly, an option that we look at. The 90-day extension is something that will be most likely done, because it’s appropriate. You know, it’s appropriate. We have to look at it carefully. It’s a very big situation,” Trump said in the phone interview.

The Supreme Court upheld the ban on Friday.

The app started displaying a message saying it was unavailable to users Saturday night.

The app will shut down because it was not sold by its owner, ByteDance. United States lawmakers are arguing the algorithm that makes the app so successful can be manipulated by Chinese officials. TikTok has said there is no evidence that the Chinese government has tried to manipulate the content or used it to gather data on millions of Americans.

The law that would enforce the TikTok ban has a 90-day pause written into it.

The 90-day pause could be enacted if progress is made in finding a buyer. During his interview with NBC, Trump did not say whether he was aware of any recent progress toward a sale.

President Joe Biden said he will not enforce a ban on the app before he leaves office, putting the ball in Trump’s court.

The decision to support TikTok is a sharp reversal from Trump’s previous stances. During his first term in office, Trump issued an executive order that banned U.S. companies from doing business with TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, because of its ties to the Chinese government, NBC reports. Similarly, he issued an executive order that targeted WeChat, owned by Tencent - a large Chinese technology company.

TikTok’s CEO Shou Chew is expected to attend Trump’s inauguration, NBC reports.

Trump said he will likely make an announcement on the decision on Monday.

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