President Trump on Thursday signed an govt order extending the deadline by one other 90 days for TikTok to be offered to a US entity or banned from the nation.
The video-sharing platform, which is owned by Chinese language firm ByteDance, now has till Sept. 17 to search out an American purchaser, in response to a publish by Trump on Reality Social.
He had floated the concept of one other extension in Could, telling reporters: “Probably, yeah. Probably have to get China approval but I think we’ll get it. I think President Xi will ultimately approve it.”
TikTok rapidly cheered the choice in a press release: “We are grateful for President Trump’s leadership and support in ensuring that TikTok continues to be available for more than 170 million American users and 7.5 million US businesses that rely on the platform as we continue to work with Vice President Vance’s Office.”
It’s the third extension Trump has granted the platform after it helped him win over younger voters within the 2024 election.
A congressionally mandated ban on the app was initially attributable to take impact in January, however the app went darkish within the US for simply 14 hours earlier than Trump issued a reprieve.
The president has known as for ByteDance to divest the US property of TikTok on nationwide safety grounds, claiming it might give China entry to an enormous reserve of American consumer information.
TikTok has denied that it poses any safety dangers to the US and has claimed it doesn’t retailer American information from the app in China.
Trump has softened his stance on the platform since his first time period, when he tried to ban the app altogether with an govt order that was finally overturned by the courts.
“As he has said many times, President Trump does not want TikTok to go dark. This extension will last 90 days, which the administration will spend working to ensure this deal is closed so that the American people can continue to use TikTok with the assurance that their data is safe and secure,” White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt instructed a number of information retailers in a press release on Thursday.
US customers seem to have little concern over the specter of Chinese language entry to their private information. Throughout TikTok’s transient shutdown in January, People rapidly pivoted to Chinese language social media app RedNote.
A survey of 1,300 TikTok customers final summer time discovered that 41% can be considerably or very upset if the app was banned, in response to Numerator. That quantity grew to 57% for Gen Z TikTok customers.
When Trump initially signed an order to increase the timeline to promote the app in January, it gave TikTok a deadline of April 5.
A number of bidders had expressed curiosity in shopping for the social media big forward of the April deadline, together with Amazon; Perplexity AI; Steven Mnuchin, Trump’s treasury secretary throughout his first time period; and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian alongside billionaire Frank McCourt.
However hopes of a deal had been squashed as Trump levied stiff tariffs on Chinese language imports, heating up tensions between the 2 nations.
He gave the app one other 90 day extension, which was attributable to expire on Thursday.
