Topline
President Donald Trump said Friday he will sign an executive order to keep TikTok operational in the U.S. for another 75 days, making the announcement one day before a ban against the popular social media platform was set to take effect unless it was sold to an American company.
Trump announced the extension Friday afternoon. (Photo by Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Key Facts
Trump said in a Truth Social post he will soon sign an executive order keeping TikTok up and running until June 19, when it will have to divest or sell its assets to an American firm or face a ban in the U.S.
“We hope to continue working in Good Faith with China,” Trump said, claiming his administration has made progress on a deal to keep TikTok in the U.S. for good.
The initial deadline for a deal was set to expire Saturday.
The president’s announcement comes after he told reporters his administration was speaking with four potential buyers for TikTok (Amazon, Microsoft and Oracle have emerged as leading suitors for the app).
On Wednesday, there had been a deal in place “for the app’s operations to be spun off into a new company based in the U.S.,” but China changed course after Trump announced his “Liberation Day” tariffs, the Associated Press reported, citing an anonymous person with knowledge of the negotiations—which increased tariffs on Chinese imports to 54%, making it the hardest hit country.
If the Trump administration is in fact nearing a deal for TikTok, the extension could be used to iron out the details and structure of the agreement, as Vice President JD Vance has expressed concern over the amount of paperwork and negotiations needed to secure TikTok.
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Who Will Buy Tiktok?
It is unclear who exactly will lead the TikTok purchase. Trump has specifically mentioned Microsoft as a potential buyer for TikTok and said he hoped for a “bidding war” over the social media app. Multiple reports have identified Amazon, Oracle and AppLovin as other potential buyers. Oracle has been approached by the White House to potentially oversee TikTok’s U.S. data if a deal is reached, according to Politico Billionaire Frank McCourt’s internet advocacy group Project Liberty, Perplexity AI and YouTuber Jimmy Donaldson, also known as MrBeast, have shown interest in purchasing TikTok.
Key Background
The law forcing TikTok to sell to an American company or be banned in the U.S. was initially set to take effect in January after it was signed by former President Joe Biden. Trump issued an executive order shortly after taking office pushing back the deadline against TikTok to April 5, after the app briefly went dark for U.S. users. A little more than two weeks before the most recent planned deadline, Vance told reporters there would “almost certainly be a high-level agreement” that stopped TikTok from being banned this month, noting he believed an agreement would be made that “satisfies our national security concerns.” The Biden administration law forcing TikTok’s sale was signed after Democrats and Republicans rallied against the app’s digital privacy practices, accusing TikTok of allowing China to spy on Americans—which TikTok has repeatedly denied it does. But Forbes found last year the app was used by its parent company, Beijing-based ByteDance, to spy on journalists. Forbes reporting also found TikTok mishandled advertiser data and exposed close contacts of celebrities and politicians.
Further Reading
Battle For TikTok: Amazon, AppLovin Join Oracle And These Others Vying To Buy It (Forbes)
Vance Says TikTok Will ‘Almost Certainly’ Reach Deal To Avoid U.S. Ban Next Month (Forbes)
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