Senate Democrats press Trump to work with Congress on TikTok ban
A group of Senate Democrats asked President Trump on Monday to disclose the administration's efforts to keep TikTok online and called for the White House to actively work with Congress to avoid another ban of the popular video-sharing app.
In a letter sent Monday, Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) urged Trump to pursue extending an April 5 deadline that would keep TikTok available if not deal is reached by that time.
"We have previously introduced legislation — the Extend the TikTok Deadline Act — that would extend the TikTok deadline to October 16, 2025, but Senate Republicans blocked passage of our bill," the lawmakers wrote. "If you need additional time to complete a deal, we urge you to direct Senate Republicans to pass our legislation and provide the companies with legal certainty to keep TikTok online and in the app stores over the next few months."
The lawmakers expressed concern with Trump's executive order in January, which gave TikTok's China-based company ByteDance an additional 75 days past the Jan. 19 deadline to divest from the video-sharing app amid national security concerns.
The law banning TikTok initially went into effect on Jan. 19 — the day before Trump was sworn into his second term — causing the platform to go dark for a few hours. The platform was swiftly brought back online after Trump pledged to issue an executive order once back in office to give the company an extension.
While noting they oppose a TikTok ban, Markey, Van Hollen and Booker said Trump's executive order in January was "unlawful" and disregarded the language of the law that passed Congress last year and set the divestiture requirements and timeline.
"It is unacceptable and unworkable for your Administration to continue ignoring the requirements in the law, as you did in January by extending the divestment deadline to April 5," the letter stated. "With that April deadline approaching, TikTok’s creators deserve a real solution — not more legal uncertainty."
"The language in the TikTok ban — formally known as the Protecting Americans’ Data
from Foreign Adversaries Act — necessitates additional work with Congress to ensure that
TikTok remains online in the United States," the lawmakers continued.
After Trump signed the executive order and the Justice Department confirmed it would not enforce the original law banning the app, Oracle continued its cloud services with TikTok and Apple and Google reinstated the app on their stores.
Given the statute of limitations on the law is five years, the lawmakers suggested a future administration could reverse the decision.
"Although your unlawful executive order has maintained TikTok during the 75-day
period, this strategy could become increasingly ineffective over time," the lawmakers said. "To the extent that you continue trying to delay the divestment deadline through executive orders, any further extensions of the TikTok deadline will require Oracle, Apple, Google, and other companies to continue risking ruinous legal liability, a difficult decision to justify in perpetuity."
The letter comes less than two weeks before the April 5 deadline. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said earlier this month the president would like to hammer out a deal on TikTok's future ownership under the current deadline, stating the president "doesn't like to ask for extensions."
Still, Lutnick said there was no guarantee that Trump would broker a deal by April 5.
Earlier this month, Trump said he will “probably” extend the deadline if a deal isn’t reached in time and that there is "a lot of interest in TikTok."
Numerous buyers have expressed interest in purchasing the U.S. arm of TikTok. The list includes bids from YouTube star MrBeast and a joint proposal from former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt and “Shark Tank” star and investor Kevin O’Leary.
Some outlets reported this month that Oracle is also a leading contender to help run TikTok.
In the Monday letter, the lawmakers said they were concerned a deal with Oracle would not satisfy the divestiture requirements.
The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment.
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