President-elect Donald Trump could take multiple approaches to save TikTok, which is set to cease operations in the United States next week.
Trump recently petitioned the Supreme Court to halt a ban on TikTok in the U.S., but the justices appear unconvinced. Though Trump said he would “wait to see what happens,” he could take several steps to save the app if it isn’t sold to an American owner.
Here are the different steps Trump could take to save TikTok:
1. Executive order
Sources close to Trump have floated plans to save the app through an executive order, something the president-elect’s pick for national security adviser, Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL), appeared to confirm on Fox News on Wednesday.
“If the Supreme Court comes out with a ruling in favor of the law, President Trump has been very clear: No. 1, TikTok is a great platform that many Americans use and has been great for his campaign and getting his message out. But No. 2, he’s going to protect their data,” Waltz said. “He’s a deal-maker. I don’t want to get ahead of our executive orders, but we’re going to create this space to put that deal in place.”
However, this may not be possible. Some legal observers argue that an executive order can not reverse a law passed by Congress with massive bipartisan support.
Alan Rozenshtein, a former national security adviser to the Justice Department, said executive orders “are not magical documents. They’re just press releases with nicer stationery.”
“TikTok will still be banned, and it will still be illegal for Apple and Google to do business with them. But it will make the president’s intention not to enforce the law that much more official,” he argued.
2. Order attorney general not to enforce the law
Trump could also order his attorney general not to enforce the ban. The law would effectively cease to exist, allowing TikTok to continue operations.
His attorney general pick, Pam Bondi, signaled she may be open to this option during her confirmation hearing on Wednesday.
“That is pending litigation within the Department of Justice,” Bondi replied when Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) asked if she would commit to enforcing the TikTok ban.
When pressed further, she said she “can’t discuss pending litigation, but I will talk to all the career prosecutors who are handling the case.”
3. Pressure Congress into backtracking
If he wants an airtight way to keep TikTok in place, Trump could leverage his stranglehold on his party and push Republicans in Congress to backtrack on the law, passing legislation to cancel the TikTok ban.
However, with Republicans having a small majority, this would be one of the most difficult approaches. Even with Trump’s unparalleled influence over congressional Republicans, it would be unlikely to rally nearly all to his cause after most had voted in the opposite direction.
4. Revive Project Texas
In 2022, TikTok proposed a plan called Project Texas. Under the proposal, U.S. officials could pick the app’s American board of directors, the government would get veto power over new hires, and a Department of Defense-linked American company would be paid to monitor its source code, the Washington Post reported.
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The deal provided a kill switch to U.S. officials to shut the app off if they believed it posed a threat.
While the Biden administration rejected the deal, Trump could look to revive it.
