In a Sunday post on Truth Social, Trump asked companies “not to let TikTok stay dark,” saying he would issue an executive order right after taking office to extend the deadline, which was Sunday. The plan to keep TikTok operational after he takes power, presented for the first time, would involve a joint venture, with the United States having a 50% ownership position.

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“By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands and allow it to say up. Without U.S. approval, there is no TikTok. With our approval, it is worth hundreds of billions of dollars – maybe trillions,” Trump said.
 
“Therefore, my initial thought is a joint venture between the current owners and/or new owners whereby the U.S. gets a 50% ownership in a joint venture set up between the U.S. and whichever purchase we so choose,” he added.

TikTok ceased operations on Saturday night ahead of the ban, along with other apps owned by ByteDance, such as the video editing software CapCut. Users of TikTok were greeted with a message of optimism, thanking Trump for his efforts.

“Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now,” the message read. “A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now. We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned!”

An executive order was one of several options Trump could have taken to overturn the TikTok ban, with his joint venture plan being a new development. The law passed last year to ban TikTok allows Trump to delay the ban by 90 days, but only if “significant progress” has been made in finding a buyer.

In 2022, TikTok proposed a plan called Project Texas. Under the proposal, U.S. officials could pick the app’s American board of directors, the government would get veto power over new hires, and a Department of Defense-linked American company would be paid to monitor its source code, the Washington Post reported.

The deal provided a kill switch to U.S. officials to shut the app off if they believed it posed a threat. Though the Biden administration rejected the offer, Trump could try to revive a version of the plan.