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WASHINGTON — In the middle of a fiercely fought presidential campaign last year, Democratic and Republican lawmakers banded together to pass a bill that could lead to the ban of the popular social media app TikTok in the United States. President Joe Biden signed it into law with little objection.
Now, on the eve of a TikTok ban set for Sunday, neither party wants to take credit for that bipartisan legislative win.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Friday that implementation of the TikTok law “simply must fall to the next administration,” given that President-elect Donald Trump will be sworn in on Monday.
And congressional leaders who championed the law are now shying away from calling for the ban to begin Sunday. Instead, they said they want to see a delay to allow TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, more time to sell the app to a U.S. buyer.
On Friday morning, the Supreme Court delivered a blow to TikTok by upholding the law passed by Congress last April.
“We know a lot of things are up in the air, with the TikTok ban scheduled to go into effect this weekend,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Friday before the court’s decision.
“But everyone — the Biden administration, the incoming Trump administration, even the Supreme Court — should continue working to find a way [to get] an American buyer for TikTok, so we can both free the app from any influence and control from the Chinese Communist Party, and keep TikTok going, which will preserve the jobs of millions of creators.”
Asked by NBC News on Wednesday what he would tell those millions of TikTok creators, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., simply replied: “We have a few days to try to work this out, and let’s see where we land.”
And this week, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., ignored a question about the looming ban. Schumer, Jeffries and Johnson all voted for the legislation that could result in TikTok’s ban.
The TikTok backpedaling from elected leaders in Washington highlights just how much politics has shifted on the issue. The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, signed into law as part of a broader foreign aid package, forces companies in the U.S. to remove TikTok from its app stores unless ByteDance sells the popular platform to a U.S. interest.
Top U.S. law enforcement officials and the lawmakers who backed the legislation have argued that TikTok is a national security threat. They’ve said the Chinese Communist Party could use the app to spy on its millions of American users and also use algorithms to manipulate what kinds of videos users see on their phones. TikTok has denied spying on users and rejected the argument it’s a threat.
ByteDance has taken no such step to sell TikTok, essentially calling the bluff of U.S. policymakers and forcing them to scramble to stave off a ban of one of the most popular apps in America.
“ByteDance needs to pick up the phone and answer a call from any number of suitors and bidders for the company, and then seek an extension of the law,” Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., a co-author of the TikTok legislation, said on NBC News’ “Meet the Press NOW” on Thursday. “Under the provisions of the law, that would be the easiest and cleanest way to proceed right now.”
The standoff also underscores the power of what TikTok says are its 170 million users in the U.S., including a large base of young people and some of whom make their livelihoods as social media influencers, managers and producers. Trying to reach young voters, campaigns for Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris utilized TikTok even as they warned about its dangers.
During his first term as president, Trump attempted to ban TikTok over national security concerns. But last month, he said he now has a “warm spot” for TikTok, met with its CEO, Shou Chew — whom he has invited to his inauguration — and called on the Supreme Court to halt implementation of the TikTok ban as he tries to negotiate a deal.
In a Truth Social post Friday, Trump said that TikTok was one of the topics he discussed with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
But some lawmakers praised the Supreme Court’s ruling and argued the ban should proceed unless China and ByteDance “get serious” about selling it.
“I’m glad the Supreme Court upheld the ban. I think there’s a national security risk here,” Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee. “We need to get rid of the Chinese government’s ultimate control of this very popular app.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., a former state attorney general, added: “TikTok should not be banned; it should be sold. China should not own it, but it should continue to exist in this country. The Supreme Court’s decision opens the way for constructive efforts now to preserve TikTok, which everybody wants.”
Last April, the House voted 360-58 to force TikTok to divest or be banned. The bill, which was packaged together with foreign aid to Israel and Ukraine, passed the Senate by an overwhelming vote of 79-18.
But now, some of those senators who voted for the legislation want a mulligan on the TikTok provision, including Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass.
“The Senate had no hearings, no experts, no discussion,” Markey said Friday. “And I got on the floor of the Senate that day, and I excoriated the entire process that would have such a significant issue be inserted into a must-pass piece of legislation that was critical for the security of Ukraine and Israel and for the humanitarian relief on people suffering.
“So that was my objection,” he added. “I made it clear right on day one.”
Markey said the court ruling “further points to the need for legislation to pass to extend the time to find a solution to the ban on TikTok, which takes effect on Sunday.” He said he’s pushing for more time to facilitate a sale to keep TikTok alive for Americans, but “the Republicans are blocking my legislation here to provide for more time.”
When lawmakers passed that bill, some of them felt certain that ByteDance would sell the platform rather than take the hit of losing the American user base.
“TikTok ain’t going away. There is no more capitalistic entity than an organization controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. They’re going to sell it,” Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., told NBC News last April. “They’re going to have a whole lot of bidders wanting to buy it. And the user experience is going to be indistinguishable, except that users’ data won’t be vacuumed up by an entity controlled by the CCP.”
One Senate Republican aide said China’s apparent decision to let TikTok take the hit of being banned in the U.S. shows that their ultimate goal isn’t about economics, but rather about collecting data on users worldwide and spreading propaganda.
The office of Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., responded to the ruling by highlighting his brief with the Supreme Court requesting this outcome.
“Their First Amendment arguments are meritless and unsound. While the forced divesture may cause them irreparable harm, any delay caused by an injunction would be contrary to the public interest,” McConnell wrote in his brief.
“This is a standard litigation play at the end of one administration, with a petitioner hoping that the next administration will provide a stay of execution,” he continued. “This Court should no more countenance it coming from foreign adversaries than it does from hardened criminals.”
Scott Wong is a senior congressional reporter for NBC News.
Sahil Kapur is a senior national political reporter for NBC News.
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