Trump Gives TikTok Another 75 Days Extension

Uploaded on 2025-04-07 in TECHNOLOGY-Key Areas-Social Media, NEWS-Cybersecurity News, FREE TO VIEW

The controversial social media platform, owned by leading Chinese technology firm Bytedance, was the target of legislation following an order by the US Congress that it be sold or face a permanent ban in in US market, where is it has 170 million users. The original deadline set was set for the end of February, although this was extended by 90 days following Donald Trump's inauguration.

Now, the US President has signed an executive order and given TikTok a further 75-day extension in a move intended to provide his administration more time to negotiate a deal for US ownership.

The president held a White House meeting in early April 2025 to discuss potential offers with advisers and Vice President JD Vance. "We do not want TikTok to 'go dark'," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "We look forward to working with TikTok and China to close the Deal." The platform is currently owned by Chinese company ByteDance.

ByteDance says it has talked with the US government, but so far an agreement has not begun. The reason the US is doing this is because former US President Joe Biden's administration had said that TikTok could be used by China as a tool for spying and political manipulation.

Congress passed a bipartisan law in 2024 giving ByteDance six months to sell its controlling stake in TikTok, or see the app blocked in the US.

Opponents of a ban have cited freedom of speech as a reason for keeping the platform open. A recent Pew Research Centre survey found that about one third of Americans said they supported a TikTok ban, down from 50% in March 2023. Roughly one third said they would oppose a ban, and a similar percentage said they were not sure.

Amongst those who said they supported banning the social media platform, about eight in 10 cited concerns over users’ data security being at risk as a major factor in their decision, according to the report.

The latest extension comes as the Trump administration tries to broker a deal to bring the social media platform under American ownership, and keep the popular app running in the US. "The deal requires more work to ensure all necessary approvals are signed," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform recently.

According to reports a deal for the sale of TikTok's US business was agreed, but disintegrated after President Trump's announcement of sweeping global tariffs on foreign imports, including those from China. ByteDance representatives contacted the White House to inform them China would no longer approve the deal unless negotiations on the tariffs could take place.

The Chinese embassy in Washington DC said in a statement that it "opposed practices that violate the basic principles of the market economy". China faces a 54% high tariff on goods imported into the US, and has replied with 34% in counter tariffs.

Image: Ideogram

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