President-elect Donald Trump said Saturday that he will "most likely" give TikTok a 90-day reprieve from a looming ban once he assumes office on Monday.
"I think that would be, certainly, an option that we look at," Trump said in an interview on NBC News' Meet The Press with Kristen Welker.
But inside TikTok, the short-term focus is on 12:01 a.m. Sunday — when the ban under law officially takes effect. It is set to force Apple and Google to remove TikTok from app stores, as well as require TikTok's web-hosting companies, including Oracle and Amazon Web Services, to sever ties with the app.
Failing to comply with the law carries stiff financial penalties: Up to $5,000 per user for companies supporting TikTok, fines that can easily reach into the billions of dollars given the size of the app's U.S. userbase.
Late on Friday, TikTok announced it "will be forced to go dark" on Sunday unless the Biden administration guarantees it will not start issuing fines to firms supporting the app.
In response, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre derided the statement as "a stunt," saying the Biden administration believes neither TikTok nor other companies backing TikTok need to take any action.
"We have laid out our position clearly and straightforwardly: actions to implement this law will fall to the next administration. So TikTok and other companies should take up any concerns with them," Jean-Pierre said.
A spokesman for TikTok did not return a request for comment on Saturday. It is unclear if Jean-Pierre's assurance is enough for TikTok to back off its promise of taking the service dark early Sunday.
No matter how it plays out, Sunday will mark the first time ever the U.S. has had a law banning a social media app domestically. Rights advocates have argued it undermines America's ability to push against censorship and to advocate for free expression on the global stage.
Uncertainty for TikTok follows Supreme Court decision upholding ban law
President Biden punting enforcement of the law, which bans TikTok nationwide unless the service divests from its China-based parent company, ByteDance, follows the president signing the law in April.
Congress advanced the law to Biden's desk with overwhelming bipartisan support, a reflection of how TikTok's Chinese ownership has made the app a pariah in Washington. Lawmakers fear the Chinese Community Party could use the app to spy on Americans, or push dangerous disinformation — even if concrete evidence of that happening now has never been cited by TikTok's critics.
TikTok challenged the law as an infringement of millions of Americans' free speech rights, but it lost in court. On Friday, a final legal judgement was entered when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the law.
The law provides the option of the president issuing a one-time 90-day pause, but only if the president can demonstrate that "significant progress" has been made toward a potential sale, or severing of TikTok's connection to ByteDance.
While many bidders have stepped forward claiming to be interested in acquiring TikTok, ByteDance's official position has long been that TikTok is not for sale. But China experts say that could change given the pressure the ban places on ByteDance.
During the Supreme Court arguments, justices asked whether it is even possible to extend a law for 90 days even after the law starts.
"I think it tees up a statutory interpretation question," responded U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar. "I'm not prepared to take a position on that."
NPR's Emma Bowman contributed to this report.
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