Trump Hits Pause on TikTok Ban — Again

President Trump is extending the deadline for TikTok to be sold to an American-based owner for another three months.In an executive order signed by Mr. Trump, the social media app’s Chinese-based parent company, ByteDance, has been given a third extension, enabling it to continue to operate TikTok on American soil through the summer.“I’ve just signed the Executive Order extending the Deadline for the TikTok closing for 90 days (September 17, 2025). Thank you for your attention to this matter,” Mr. Trump announced in a post on Truth Social.The president first indicated that he would extend the deadline ban on Tuesday, telling reporters while aboard Air Force One that he believed that China’s president, Xi Jinping, would have to sign off on a transaction if a buyer came forward, but that he would be amenable to a deal.“We probably have to get China approval. I think we’ll get it,” Mr. Trump said. “I think President Xi will ultimately approve it.”The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said Wednesday that Mr. Trump’s administration was working to prevent the popular service — which has 170 million users in America alone — from going “dark.”“As he has said many times, President Trump does not want TikTok to go dark,” she 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.”The extensions, the first of which was signed on January 20, in theory protect TikTok’s stateside service providers from penalties under the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. But because the EOs are not codified into law, the protections lack any real strength.A trio of Democratic senators — Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, and New Jersey’s Cory Booker — sent a letter to President Trump in March, before the second extension was signed the following month, claiming that it left American service providers open to “ruinous legal liability.”“Although your unlawful executive order has maintained TikTok during the 75-day period, this strategy could become increasingly ineffective over time,” the letter reads. “To the extent that you continue trying to delay the divestment deadline through executive orders, any further extensions of the TikTok deadline will require Oracle, Apple, Google, and other companies to continue risking ruinous legal liability, a difficult decision to justify in perpetuity.”China-based Bytedance owns TikTok and has been the center of concern for federal officials, who believe that the app is being used as a way to conduct surveillance on American citizens.TikTok is central to the marketing efforts of some American businesses that want to reach young people. However, members of Congress argue that it’s too dangerous to give a Chinese company access to so much data about Americans and to allow it so much access to American eyeballs.Since the extensions began, several prospective buyers have come forward, including Amazon; an AI startup, Perplexity; and a Reddit co-founder, Alexis Ohanian. Those potential deals stalled after Mr. Trump imposed sweeping tariffs against China.

Trump Hits Pause on TikTok Ban — Again

Trump Hits Pause on TikTok Ban — Again

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