The solution for the US to use TikTok forever is for Elon Musk to buy it. Donald Trump has said that he is open to it as president. If Musk wants to buy the app, let him.
The short-form video app used by 170 million Americans was temporarily taken down on national security grounds on Sunday, only to be restored a few hours later. The decision to shut it down was delayed for a second, exactly 75 days.
Bloomberg News reported last week that the app's Chinese owners were in preliminary talks about a possible option to sell TikTok's shares in the United States to Musk, although the company has denied this.
Trump signed an executive order on Monday seeking to delay by 75 days the implementation of the law that was put in place after US officials warned that under the Chinese parent company ByteDance, there was a risk that Americans' data would be misused.
"I've met with the owners of TikTok, the big owners," Trump added. "So what I'm thinking of saying to someone is, 'Buy it and give half to the United States of America.'"
Free speech advocates have opposed the ban on TikTok under a law passed by the US Congress and signed by former President Joe Biden.
Musk, who spent more than $250 million to help Trump win November's presidential election, has said there was an 'unbalanced' business environment between the US and China.
"I've been against banning TikTok for a long time because it violates freedom of speech. That said, the current situation where TikTok is allowed to operate in America but X is not allowed to operate in China is unbalanced," said Musk, who owns the social media platform X.
Would Musk be willing to take TikTok from China?