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TikTok will continue to live on in the United States until at least mid-September. The TikTok ban still looms over the app's US operation, but President Trump says he will delay enforcement of the law for another 90 days, putting the new deadline at Sept. 17.
“President Trump will sign an additional executive order this week to keep TikTok up and running,” Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary, told CNN.
This is the third extension so far with the second pause set to expire on Thursday, June 19. The two previous extensions were issued in January and April; they both lasted for 75 days each. It’s unclear when Trump will sign the executive order, but it’s likely to happen before Thursday.
“As he has said many times, President Trump does not want TikTok to go dark,” Leavitt said. “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.”
In January, TikTok was taken down in the US for around half a day before Trump promised he wouldn’t immediately enforce the law, which would have imposed hefty fees on app stores hosting TikTok. ByteDance then revived the app, but it wasn't available on US app stores for another few weeks, until US Attorney General Pam Bondi assured Apple and Google they wouldn’t be fined for hosting it.
A TikTok ban got rolling in Trump's first term, but his opinion on the app changed after he joined during his most recent campaign for president and gained a number of followers. In May, he told NBC, "Perhaps I shouldn't say this, but I have a little warm spot in my heart for TikTok.”
The current TikTok ban was imposed by US lawmakers who have said its ownership by a Chinese company makes it a national security threat. The law says the US operations of the app must be sold to another company or face a ban. It's unclear which company will buy this element of TikTok, but the ban says it must be a firm that the US doesn’t consider to be controlled by a “foreign adversary.”
It's thought that a deal was close to completion back in April. ByteDance said at the time, “There are key matters to be resolved. Any agreement will be subject to approval under Chinese law.” Some sources have said that the introduction of strict tariffs from the US on trade with China meant the deal fell apart.
For now, you’ll be able to continue using TikTok through to at least the middle of September. Technically, the law only gave Trump the option to delay a ban for 90 days beyond Jan. 19, 2025 if an acquisition was imminent. But asking the DOJ not to enforce the law is another way to get around it. Democrats in Congress aren't happy, though.
“Once again, the Trump administration is flouting the law and ignoring its own national security findings about the risks posed by a [China]-controlled TikTok," says Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. "An executive order can’t sidestep the law, but that’s exactly what the president is trying to do.”