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The White House has announced that TikTok will be allowed to continue operations in the US for another 90 days, extending the deadline for the popular Chinese-owned social media app to divest a stake in the platform to comply with American law.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated on Tuesday, “President [Donald] 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, during which the administration will work to ensure that this deal is finalized, assuring the American people that their data is safe and secure.”
Last year, Congress passed legislation mandating ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese owner, to sell the app or face a ban in the US.
President Trump has been vocal about his efforts to “save” the app and has previously extended the deadline twice – first from January to April, and then from April to June 19 – after failing to secure a deal that would require approval from China.
Before the April deadline, the White House was close to finalizing an agreement that would separate TikTok from ByteDance and establish a US-based company to receive new investments, reducing the stakes of Chinese investors.
According to reports, under the terms of the proposed deal, investors such as Andreessen Horowitz and Blackstone would have owned approximately half of TikTok’s US operations, while existing investors like General Atlantic, Susquehanna, and KKR would have held around 30% of the new entity.
The Financial Times has previously mentioned that the White House had considered other potential outside investors, including right-wing media personality Tucker Carlson.
ByteDance informed the White House and investors that Beijing was willing to approve the deal, but after President Trump announced tariffs on China and other countries in April, ByteDance notified investors that Beijing had withdrawn its approval. The White House decided to wait for US-China trade tensions to ease before attempting to revive the deal.
During his first term as president in 2020, Trump took steps to block TikTok, citing concerns about data collection that could potentially grant the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information.
However, Trump’s stance towards the platform shifted after he utilized it to connect with younger voters during the 2024 election campaign. In a May interview with NBC, Trump expressed his fondness for TikTok, stating that he had “a little warm spot in my heart for TikTok.”
As the saga between TikTok, ByteDance, and the US government continues, it remains to be seen how the situation will unfold in the coming months. Stay tuned for updates on this evolving story.
