So, with Donald Trump returning to the White House for a second term, does that mean the TikTok sell-off bill is going to be revoked and TikTok will get permission to keep operating in the U.S.?

On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly vowed to "save TikTok" if returned to office-and indeed noted he's become "a big star" in the app. Trump used this as a means of elevating his appeal among younger voters, which may have helped him win more votes. Now, though, Trump might have some hard decisions if he really wants the platform to stay active.

In short, the sell-off bill for TikTok at hand will not ban it from America, as such, but make it go under U.S. ownership if it wants to be active in the region. The Chinese Government has vowed to oppose the sell-off bill and the effort to force a Chinese company into U.S. ownership when, in effect, it could mean TikTok being kicked out of the U.S. either way; although it doesn't technically amount to a ban in itself.

Nevertheless, he has attempted to make the sale of TikTok yet another vote-winning strategy. And now, we shall see if it is possible for him to block the already approved Senate bill on the sale of TikTok.

Of course, he can. As president, Trump would be able to issue an executive order, which would cancel out the Senate's decisions even though he might not actually be able to alter the bill approved. This would be yet another great undermining of the Senate majority, and it is uncertain if he would go this far to keep up his promise.

Yet so far, the victory for Trump would have been music to the ears of TikTok management, which has already launched expensive legal action against the U.S. Government to oppose the bill. Its path to remaining in the U.S., a key market for the app, is now looking much more promising, but then again….

Remember, he is the person who in 2020 first proposed a ban on TikTok. However, at that time, Trump had a different explanation for the ban compared to the cybersecurity reasons today.

Following President Trump blaming China for unleashing COVID-19, it became a promise from his end to ban TikTok as a form of retaliation against China for the disease.

So it wasn't the case that Trump was concerned about CCP's spying and influence operations. Trump had more particular, personal reasons to go after the app.
 
Which he seems to have forgotten now, and as Trump confesses, he has also been utilizing TikTok as a tool to reach out to younger voters, where he has improved his personal opinion of the app.
So, actually, we cannot even imagine how precisely Trump thinks about the platform, and whether the heads of cybersecurity will finally influence his point of view about the platform, as they influenced the Senate.

Perhaps as part of the handover briefings, Trump too will be sold to maintain the TikTok ban, either way now there is a fresh opportunity for the company's brass and top lobbyists to begin re-pitching their case on how to keep TikTok in the nation.

There is still a little bit of time before Trump actually returns to office, but his chances of going back to office had recently gotten quite much brighter for TikTok's future.