Prof. Alan Rozenshtein Quoted by Washington Post, New York Times, and ABC News About Likelihood of Halting the Possible TikTok Ban

Professor Alan Rozenshtein was quoted by the Washington Post, New York Times and ABC News about how the Trump administration could try to halt the ban of TikTok. The video-sharing app faces a January deadline to find a new owner not based in China or lose access to U.S. users, under a law passed in April with bipartisan support. ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese parent company, has challenged the ban as unconstitutional. But even if doesn’t win in appeal, there are other options that might save it including a divestment deadline extension by 90 days, a call to Congress to repeal the law, or the attorney general could refrain from enforcing the law. But according to Prof. Rozenshtein, halting the ban without formal action might be tricky. He said, “If you’re the general counsel of Apple and [chief executive] Tim Cook turns to you and says, ‘Can we host TikTok on our app stores,’ you’re in a very awkward position if the answer is ‘Trump said we could’ in a random tweet. How much do you trust Trump? If he changes his mind, are they retroactively liable? Do they really want to be in that position?”