WASHINGTON — Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer criticized Republicans on Thursday for blocking a final attempt to extend TikTok’s lifespan in the U.S. — even as the video platform’s CEO is expected to join the tech moguls at the inauguration belongs to President-elect Donald Trump.
Unless the U.S. Supreme Court intervenes, Sunday marks the deadline set by bipartisan lawmakers and President Joe Biden for the social media app’s parent company, ByteDance, to sell or ban TikTok from U.S. app stores.
Schumer said on the Senate floor that “more time is needed to find an American buyer and not disrupt the lives and livelihoods of millions of Americans and so many influencers who have built a good network of followers.”
TikTok estimates that 170 million Americans exploit the platform.
“That’s why Senate Democrats tried to pass a bill last night that would extend the deadline to give everyone more time to find a workable solution. But Senate Republicans blocked our bill, which is amazing because time is running out,” Schumer continued.
Late Wednesday, Republican Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Pete Ricketts of Nebraska objected to the deadline extension bill introduced by Democratic Sens. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Ron Wyden of Oregon and Cory Booker of New Jersey.
Cotton said ByteDance and TikTok “had received many additional warnings about the possibility of such actions for years, long before Congress set this hard Sunday deadline.” The Trump administration tried to shut down TikTok in 2020.”
“We didn’t pull the rug out from under TikTok and we didn’t ban it. Instead, “Congress simply demanded that the app no longer be owned and controlled by our nation’s worst enemy, Communist China,” Cotton said.
Quote Warnings Intelligence officials acknowledged the app posed a risk to national security last April happen the bill and Biden signed it into law. An initial vote in the U.S. House of Representatives in March received overwhelming bipartisan support 352-65.
However, according to NBC NewsBiden does not plan to enforce the law on his last day in office, instead leaving it to the novel Trump administration to impose fines on app stores or internet hosting companies that make the platform available in the US beyond the legal deadline make.
However, according to NBC NewsBiden is looking for ways to keep the platform available beyond Sunday’s deadline. The White House did not immediately respond to States Newsroom’s request for confirmation.
Trump, who signed one Implementing regulation in 2020 ban TikTok unless it broke off with ByteDance, turned around his position last year.
A source familiar with Trump’s inauguration plans confirmed to the State Newsroom on Thursday that TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew will be at the podium as Trump takes the oath of office on Monday.
TikTok sued to block the law and ultimately appealed to the Supreme Court.
Judge Arguments heard Friday, but have not yet announced a decision on whether to block the law requiring ByteDance to sell TikTok.
The company claims it is not owned by China. TikTok lawyer Noel Francisco said in a news conference following the Supreme Court arguments that ByteDance was incorporated in the Cayman Islands, although 21% was owned by a Chinese national living in Singapore. Francisco also said that TikTok’s source code for the algorithm is stored on servers in Virginia.
Last updated on January 16, 2025 at 5:24 p.m
