Trump says he will 'most likely' give TikTok a 90-day extension on Inauguration Day

WASHINGTON -- US President-elect Donald Trump said Saturday that he will "most likely" give TikTok a 90-day extension on Inauguration Day, which is Monday.

In an interview with NBC News, Trump said he hadn't made a final decision on TikTok but was considering a 90-day extension of the Sunday deadline.

"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," Trump said in the phone interview. "We have to look at it carefully. It's a very big situation."

In April 2024, US President Joe Biden signed a bill passed by both chambers of Congress, requiring ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, to sell TikTok to a non-Chinese company within 270 days, or the video app will be banned in the United States after Jan 19, 2025.

On Friday, the US Supreme Court upheld the law forcing ByteDance to sell the app to an American company or face a nationwide ban starting on Sunday, just one day before Trump's inauguration.

Following the Supreme Court's decision, the White House issued a statement, saying: "TikTok should remain available to Americans, but simply under American ownership or other ownership that addresses the national security concerns identified by Congress in developing this law."

"Given the sheer fact of timing, this Administration recognizes that actions to implement the law simply must fall to the next Administration, which takes office on Monday," the statement said.

In response, TikTok said that it will be forced to shut down its services for the 170 million users in the United States on Sunday unless the Biden administration provides a "definitive" assurance.

"Unless the Biden Administration immediately provides a definitive statement to satisfy the most critical service providers assuring non-enforcement, unfortunately TikTok will be forced to go dark on Jan 19," it said.