TikTok has been granted a 90-day-extension in enforcement of a law that requires the social media platform to divest from its Chinese-owned parent company ByteDance, or else face a ban.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement, “President Trump will sign an additional executive order this week to keep TikTok up and running. 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.”
READ: Oracle’s latest deal might help TikTok evade US ban (March 19, 2025)
The U.S. Supreme Court had upheld a law back in January, which could potentially enact a ban on TikTok if it did not divest from ByteDance. The platform went dark on Jan. 19 for the American users, but was restored within 24 hours. President Trump, who took the office earlier this year, signed an executive order which gave the app an initial 75 days to find a buyer by April 5. Trump extended the deadline for another 75 days in April, and now, yet another extension has been granted.
In April, a deal that transferred majority control of TikTok’s U.S. operations was nearly finalized. However, it was stalled due to additional tariffs imposed on China. “There are key matters to be resolved. Any agreement will be subject to approval under Chinese law,” TikTok parent company ByteDance said after Trump’s tariff policy stalled progress on the deal in April.
This announcement means that the app will remain accessible for its 170 million American users despite the legislation that passed last year with bipartisan support over concerns that TikTok’s Chinese ownership poses a U.S. national security risk. It also comes amid tense trade talks between the U.S. and China, where TikTok seems to have become a bargaining chip.
Trump’s latest enforcement delay raises questions about the status of a deal that could secure TikTok’s long-term future in the United States. There has been little indication from the Chinese government that they would approve of a sale beyond suggesting that a deal would not include TikTok’s algorithm.
Trump said on Tuesday that a TikTok deal would likely require approval by the Chinese government. “I think President Xi will ultimately approve it, yes,” he said.
Trump was the one who initially tried to ban TikTok, during his previous administration. However, since then, he seems to have changed his mind about the platform. “I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok, because I won youth by 34 points,” Trump said in December 2024, referencing the presidential elections.
Trump has previously said he would be open to TikTok being sold to cloud computing giant Oracle, whose co-founder Larry Ellison is a long-time ally of Trump’s. Billionaire Frank McCourt, Canadian businessman Kevin O’Leary, and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian are part of another team bidding for the platform. YouTuber Jimmy Donaldson, also known as Mr. Beast, had also expressed an interest in buying TikTok as part of a different investor group.