TikTok is not going anywhere — for now, at least.
President Donald Trump said on Friday he will be signing an executive order to give TikTok another 75 days to work out a deal to sell its U.S. operation, one day before it was set to be banned from the States.
The president initially signed a 75-day extension on his first day back in office, extending the time ByteDance, TikTok’s Beijing-based parent company, had to make a deal or face being banned from the U.S.
“My Administration has been working very hard on a Deal to SAVE TIKTOK, and we have made tremendous progress,” the president said on his Truth Social app. “The Deal requires more work to ensure all necessary approvals are signed, which is why I am signing an Executive Order to keep TikTok up and running for an additional 75 days.”
President Trump said he is looking forward to continuing to work in “good faith” with China, who he said is “not very happy” about his new tariff plan.
“This proves that Tariffs are the most powerful Economic tool, and very important to our National Security! We do not want TikTok to ‘go dark,’” he added. “We look forward to working with TikTok and China to close the Deal. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
TikTok’s future in the U.S. has been in limbo for some time heading into Friday. The app, which boasts 170 million American users, was set to be banned from the U.S. on Jan. 19, after President Joe Biden signed a law last year requiring ByteDance to sell TikTok’s American operation. The chief concern lawmakers had was that TikTok could act as a stealth spyware app for China’s communist government, as ByteDance is required by Chinese law to hand over any user data the government asks for.
The ban was postponed after Trump gave TikTok its first 75-day extension hours after being inaugurated on Jan. 20. Trump has said on multiple occasions he would like to “save” TikTok, in part, because it helped him reach younger voters during the 2024 election. The belief Trump would spearhead a deal to keep the app around long-term had his fans and TikTok creators partying late into the night on the eve of his inauguration.
In March, President Trump said the U.S. government was talking to four bidders about buying TikTok, without naming specific companies or investors. The Information reported on March 13 that Oracle had taken the lead in acquiring TikTok’s U.S. operation. And complicating matters has been the Chinese government’s adamant stance it will not approve any TikTok sale.
More potential buyers have come forward this week, including Amazon, which made a late bid to acquire the entire app, not just TikTok’s U.S. operation. It is unclear how much Amazon bid. A fair price just to acquire TikTok’s American wing, Wedbush Securities Managing Director Dan Ives told TheWrap, would be a record-setting $300 billion.
President Trump has said he would “like the United States to have a 50% ownership position” in any TikTok deal, saying it can be a “joint venture.” Whether that means the U.S. government will have a slice of TikTok, or just an American business, remains to be seen. The president on Thursday suggested China’s government could get a break on his new tariff plan if it approves a TikTok deal.
And despite the security concerns, only 32% of Americans have said they are in favor of a ban, according to a Pew Research survey last fall. Many users have said they simply do not care whether the Chinese government can access their phones, with one TikTok creator telling TheWrap “You can spy on me, I don’t care.”
As its April 5 ban date approached, TikTok had been operating like it will be around for a while in the States. The company hired former Warner Bros. Discovery comms boss Nathaniel Brown as its Global Head of Corporate Communication last week, and TikTok has been running ads on Fox News and YouTube, among other spots, highlighting small business owners who use the app to reach customers.
