Trump says he may grant 90-day extension for TikTok ban

US President-elect Donald Trump has indicated that he is "most likely" to grant TikTok a 90-day extension to comply with US law requiring ByteDance, its Chinese parent company, to sell its US operations.

"The 90-day extension is something that will be most likely done, because it's appropriate. If I decide to do that, I'll probably announce it on Monday," Trump said in a telephone interview with NBC News on Saturday.

The law, enacted last year, mandates ByteDance divest TikTok by January 19 or face a ban. While the Biden administration has deferred enforcement, TikTok warned it may shut down operations without "clarity and assurance" from US officials.

White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre called TikTok's concerns a "stunt" in a statement early Saturday, emphasising that any decisions now fall to the incoming administration.

The comments mark a shift from Trump's earlier efforts to ban TikTok, reflecting evolving views amid concerns about ByteDance's ties to the Chinese government.

Buyout, merger proposals

Artificial intelligence startup Perplexity AI submitted a proposal to ByteDance on Saturday to create a new entity that merges Perplexity with TikTok US business, according to a person familiar with the matter. If successful, the new structure would also include other investors and allow ByteDance's existing shareholders to retain their stake in the company, the person said.

Perplexity is not asking to purchase the ByteDance algorithm that feeds TikTok users' videos based on their interests and has made the platform such a phenomenon. The person said they believed a fair price for TikTok — without the algorithm — is north of $50 billion.

If the merger plan is successful, the algorithm would need to be rebuilt. It would also lead to more AI-powered searches on TikTok, the person said.

Other potential buyers have been eyeing TikTok. "Shark Tank" star Kevin O'Leary recently said a consortium of investors that he and billionaire Frank McCourt put together offered ByteDance $20 billion in cash.

The Supreme Court upheld the ban on Friday, and Trump pledged to decide TikTok's future "in the not-too-distant future."

As the deadline approaches, TikTok's availability to over 170 million US users remains uncertain.

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Source: TRT