This law was passed by Congress last year and went into effect last Sunday
The president of the USA Donald Trump signed a decree yesterday, Monday, instructing his government to suspend for 75 days the implementation of the law that prohibits the operation of the popular social network TikTok in the USA.
That law, which was passed by Congress last year and went into effect on Sunday, forces the platform’s parent company, China’s Bytedance, to sell it under threat of being banned in the US.
Trump had promised to ‘save TikTok’suspending the implementation of the law that prohibits the operation of this social networking medium on American soil.
The law provides for very heavy fines for internet service providers and app stores, up to $5,000 per user for the latter.
Those sanctions will be imposed by the Justice Department, which Trump has ordered to stand down for two and a half months until it “consults with advisers,” according to the text of the new US president’s executive order.
Trump also plans to assess the security risks posed by TikTok and its Chinese shareholder and “determine whether the measures already taken by TikTok are adequate.”
US lawmakers had justified the law’s passage, saying it was necessary to prevent Chinese authorities from accessing US user data or manipulating public opinion in the US.
During a White House event open to reporters in which he signed this order and many others, the new US president played down the national security risks posed by the social media outlet.
“There are many products made in China and the only thing they complain about is TikTok”Donald Trump said, referring to members of Congress.
“Let’s be honest, we have more serious problems than seeing China collect information from young children,” TikTok users, he added.
Instead of finding a buyer, which ByteDance rejects, the new president proposed, as he did on Sunday, that the Chinese group give the US 50% of TikTok’s capital in exchange for the law not being implemented in the country.
The government could then distribute that holding to American private interests, he said.
“We’ll probably need China’s consent, but I’m sure they’ll give it,” Trump noted. “TikTok has a huge value, but if they don’t approve (this), it won’t have any more value,” he said.
To a related question yesterday at a press conference, the representative of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs replied that “in matters of operations and acquisitions, companies should decide independently, according to market principles.”
If China refuses to give the green light, “we will impose tariffs on them,” the new US president warned.
Trump has radically changed his attitude towards this app with more than 170 million users in the US.
In 2020, he had issued an executive order similar in all respects to the law Congress passed four years later, determined to force ByteDance to sell.
However, the justice, to which TikTok had appealed, had suspended its implementation, judging excessive fears regarding national security and considering this decree an obstacle to freedom of expression.
“I have a weakness for TikTok that I didn’t have at first,” Trump acknowledged, “but I went on TikTok (during the campaign) and brought the young people back.”
