Lifeline for TikTok as Trump announces executive order to thwart US ban
Users trying to access the platform received a notification explaining they wouldn’t be able to use the app “for now”, offering hope that the social network would be reinstated after Trump was inaugurated.
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“A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the US,” the notification read. “Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now.”
Trump was initially one of the early opponents of TikTok, but changed his views during the presidential campaign, in which he used the app to woo a significant number of young voters, particularly men.
The new law gives the sitting president authority to grant a 90-day extension if a viable sale is under way. While ByteDance previously said it would not sell, Trump’s post on Sunday proposed making the US a partner in a deal.
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Trump’s latest announcement adds TikTok to the blizzard of “day one” executive orders Trump has said he plans to issue after he is sworn into office on Monday as America’s 46th president.
He also plans to use the sweeping presidential power to tackle the immigration crisis, shake up the US economy with more aggressive tariffs, wind back climate change policies initiated by the Biden administration and grant pardons to people he believes were unfairly convicted over the January 6, 2021, attack at the US Capitol.
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