TikTok says it’s in the US to stay, after Trump prevarication

TikTok has told advertisers that it’s in the US to stay, stating that “we are here” and “are absolutely confident in our platform and confident in the future of this platform.”

The statement came after Trump indicated that he would extend the current enforcement pause again if needed, despite that fact that this is probably unlawful …

A quick recap

Under a law passed by Congress, TikTok has been banned from the US since January 19.

The law has a clause which permitted the date to be pushed back under certain conditions, but those conditions were not met. Trump instead issued a (probably unlawful) executive order to pause enforcement for 75 days.

Apple didn’t accept Trump’s assurance and kept it out of the App Store, until the company was later guaranteed immunity by the DOJ.

On Sunday, Trump indicated that he would be willing to further extend that pause.

TikTok claims it is in the US to stay

The New York Times reports on a presentation given yesterday to the company’s biggest US advertisers.

“TikTok is here — we are here,” Khartoon Weiss, the company’s vice president of global business solutions, told a packed warehouse of advertisers on Tuesday in Manhattan. “We are absolutely confident in our platform and confident in the future of this platform,” she declared.

Present at the event were hundreds of advertisers, including Unilever, a giant whose brands include Ben & Jerry’s, Comfort, Domestos, Dove, Graze, Knorr, Lynx, Lifebouy, Lux, Magnum, Persil/Omo, Sunlight, and Wall’s.

TikTok also pitched a number of new tools for advertisers.

The company promoted new tools that would let marketers run their messages alongside viral trends, and it pitched advertisers on the additional exposure they could get from running ads on TikTok during the Super Bowl. Ms. Weiss also told marketers that the company was eager to develop ways for advertisers to capitalize on search queries, as people increasingly use TikTok as an alternative to popular search engines like Google.

There was no reference to Trump’s TikTok America plan, which appears to have been touted without any discussion with the company.