Trump Gives TikTok Another 90-Day Lifeline
President Trump is giving TikTok another 90 days to find a new owner, marking the third extension of a deadline originally set by Congress to force a sale or ban of the Chinese-owned app. "President Trump will sign an additional Executive Order this week to keep TikTok up and running," said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, adding that the delay aims 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."
Talks to separate TikTok from its parent company ByteDance have been complicated by rising trade tensions with China. A deal backed by investors like Blackstone and Andreessen Horowitz appeared close earlier this year but fell apart after Beijing rescinded its approval following new US tariffs. ByteDance maintains that "any agreement will be subject to approval under Chinese law."
Despite the legal uncertainty, TikTok remains optimistic. "We are just very confident where we’re going, and so are over one billion users with us," said Khartoon Weiss, TikTok's VP of global business solutions, during the Cannes Lions festival. While some lawmakers push Trump to enforce the ban, others suggest the ongoing delays have effectively nullified the law for now.
