Making sure TikTok stays on for the American people is President Donald Trump’s “main goal” right now, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Monday.
The press secretary added that Trump wants to accomplish his goal “while protecting [Americans’] privacy and security.” TikTok has said it has 170 million users in the U.S.
Her comments, made inside the White House press briefing room, came in response to a question about whether the president had a “seller” for TikTok, and not just a buyer or buyers. President Trump, a day earlier, told Fox News he had a “a group of very wealthy people” lined up to buy TikTok’s American operations within the next two weeks.
“I think President Xi will probably do it,” Trump said, in response to whether China’s president and its communist government would sign-off on the deal.
TikTok was initially set to be banned on Jan. 19, after President Joe Biden signed a law last year requiring ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, to sell TikTok’s American operation. The chief concern lawmakers had was that TikTok could act as a stealth spyware app for China’s communist government, as ByteDance is required by Chinese law to hand over any user data the government asks for.
President Trump, on his first day back in office on Jan. 20, gave TikTok a 75-day extension to make a deal, and the app’s future in the U.S. has remained in limbo ever since. The president gave TikTok a second extension in April, and then another one earlier this month, making Sept. 17 the latest deadline.
