January 16, 2025
President Biden just made the TikTok ban President Trump’s problem.
It’s important for you to understand Biden did not stop the TikTok ban. That’s not what happened. As of today, Thursday January 16th the ban of tiktok will take effect as scheduled on Sunday January 19th – unless the supreme court says otherwise between now and then.
What the Biden administration said is – they will not follow through and impose the massive fines required under the law as punishment on any US company that chooses to continue to host or support the tiktok app after Sunday. So in essence the Biden administration is taking the teeth out of the law. There is a window of about 36 hours between the time when the ban starts on January 19th and the time when president trump will take office on January 20th at noon. Biden is saying his administration will just run out the clock for a day and a half until trump takes over. And then Trump can decide.
Now – as I just told you in this video in a lot of detail this was really one of the only cards Biden could have played. Yes, there is a provision in the law that gives the president the power to pause the tiktok ban with a one-time 90 day extension. But only if there is “significant progress” on the sale of tiktok and the transaction is likely to close in those 90 days. We know that is not what’s happening at this point. There is no sale of tiktok. And certainly not one that is showing “significant progress.” So technically that 90 day presidential extension wasn’t an option. I mean Biden probably could have done it anyway but he chose not to. But what he chose to do by not enforcing the law is also a legally questionable. But clearly Biden chose to take that chance because he’s out the door anyway. But whether TikTok or US companies will also take that chance and feel comfortable operating in the United States under those questionable circumstances is another question that we don’t have an answer to yet.
So what about the Trump administration? What can they do. I know it’s a long video, but I encourage you to go watch the video I posted earlier today because I brought out the white board and I laid out all the real options trump has. And there is one sort of creative way for him to comply with the TikTok ban law, and to keep TikTok exactly as it is. So please go watch that video to understand how that works.
Don’t forget – this is all going to come down to the supreme court. We will likely know that answer tomorrow when the justices could issue a ruling. The justices can actually put a legal pause on the TikTok ban through an administrative stay or an injunction or they can just say the TikTok ban is straight up unconstitutional. In which case, Biden’s decision today means absolutely nothing. But if the justices decide not to issue a ruling at all or decide the law is constitutional – then having Biden’s plan in place will delay implementation until trump takes over and then we’ll have to see what he does.
