The United States is close to making TikTok’s shutdown effective. January 19 is the deadline set by the bill signed last year by President Joe Biden. Although the initiative had overwhelming bipartisan support at the time, it is possible that now the short-video platform will receive unexpected help. In an unexpected development, some senators are pushing for a potential 270-day extension of the US TikTok ban.
Democratic senator who supported the US TikTok ban file for a 270-day extension
Senator Ed Markey, from the Democratic faction, will file the so-called “Extend the TikTok Deadline Act” soon. Markey was among the officials who supported the original bill last year. Now, his proposal could give TikTok the extra time it has been seeking for a long time without success. Appeals courts in the US have already turned down ByteDance’s requests to challenge or delay the law.
If approved, the act will give TikTok another 270 days of grace time to resolve its situation in the United States. However, last year’s bill will still be active, so if the company fails to do anything in that time, it will face the ban again after that period. ByteDance has been looking for a delay for a long time. The company has a “wild card” in the Trump administration that could reverse the implementation of the law. However, Trump’s inauguration will happen one day after the deadline, which complicates things.
“A TikTok ban would impose serious consequences on millions of Americans who depend on the app for social connections and their economic livelihood. We cannot allow that to happen,” Ed Markey said this week in Congress.
Not the senator’s first attempt to help TikTok
This is not the first time that the Democratic senator has tried to lend a helping hand to TikTok after voting in favor of its ban. In December 2024, Markey, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court. The document alleged that the anti-TikTok law goes against First Amendment principles. “Its main justification—preventing covert content manipulation by the Chinese government—reflects a desire to control the content on the TikTok platform and in any event could be achieved through a less restrictive alternative,” the filing says.
Representatives also raised the issue of protecting Americans’ data, one of the bill’s alleged goals. “Its secondary justification of protecting users’ data from the Chinese government could not sustain the ban on its own and also overlooks that Congress did not consider whether less drastic mitigation measures could address those concerns,” reads the document.
TikTok already filed its case with the Supreme Court and is awaiting a response. However, analysts see little likelihood that the ruling will be favorable to the short-video social platform. Markey’s initiative could be an alternative way for TikTok to continue operating in the United States under that scenario.
