Under a U.S. law that went into effect Jan. 19, 2025, it is illegal for American companies to host or distribute TikTok in the country as long as it remains controlled by its Chinese owner, ByteDance. The legislation passed last year with overwhelming bipartisan support, on fears that the popular video entertainment app’s ties to China‘s communist regime make it a national security risk. The Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the ban.
But since taking office, President Donald Trump has issued two executive orders delaying enforcement of the law, and now he’s going to give TikTok — which has said it has more than 170 million U.S. users — yet another stay of execution.
On Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump will sign an additional executive order this week “to keep TikTok up and running.” The new deadline to reach a deal keeping TikTok legal is now mid-September.
“As he has said many times, President Trump does not want TikTok to go dark,” Leavitt said in a statement (via CBS News). “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.”
Earlier Tuesday, Trump told reporters on Air Force One that a TikTok deal would probably require approval by China’s government and he said, “I think President Xi will ultimately approve it, yes.” Asked whether he has the legal authority to extend the deadline again, Trump claimed, “Yes, I do.”
Under the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, ByteDance is required to sell a controlling interest in TikTok to non-Chinese owners or be outlawed. The law does not permit Trump to postpone its enforcement. But he has done so anyway, as his administration tries to figure out a new structure for TikTok in the U.S. that would let it stay legal.
The Trump administration reportedly proposed spinning off TikTok’s U.S. business into a new company majority-owned by U.S. investors, with ByteDance retaining a stake of less than 20% to comply with the law. Potential investors in TikTok could include Oracle, Blackstone and VC firm Andreessen Horowitz, which have been reported to be part of the deal talks. Oracle is seen as a logical partner, as the company has an existing agreement to host TikTok’s U.S. user data. But the deal evidently fell apart amid rising tensions between the U.S. and China over Trump’s move to impose steep tariffs on Chinese goods.
In April, prior to Trump’s previous deadline, ByteDance said that it was in discussions with U.S. government officials “regarding a potential solution for TikTok U.S.” but that an agreement was not finalized because “there are key matters to be resolved.” ByteDance also said any agreement would be subject to approval under Chinese law.
After TikTok lost an appeal to the Supreme Court challenging the divest-or-ban law on First Amendment grounds, the app briefly shut down in the U.S. on Jan. 18. But about 14 hours later, TikTok restored service — citing Trump’s pledge to not enforce the ban while he sought to find a solution. Meanwhile, Apple and Google pulled TikTok from their U.S. app stores amid legal uncertainty over Trump’s executive order delaying enforcement of the TikTok-targeted law, but restored TikTok in February after assurances from the White House they would not be held criminally liable for doing so.
Trump, during his first term as U.S. president, tried to ban TikTok on national-security grounds but those efforts were shot down by federal courts. Trump joined TikTok in June 2024 during his presidential campaign. At a press conference in December, Trump said, “I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok,” because “there are those who say” the app helped drive support for him among young voters.
ByteDance has said 60% of its ownership is represented by “global institutional investors” including BlackRock, General Atlantic and Susquehanna, with 20% owned by its Chinese founders and 20% by employees including those in the U.S.