Trump delays TikTok ban for the third occasion as negotiations with US companies falter
On Thursday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order extending TikTok’s operation in the US for an additional 90 days, allowing his administration further opportunity to negotiate a deal aimed at transferring ownership of the social media platform to American entities. This marks the third occasion on which Trump has chosen to extend the deadline. On January 20, his first day in office, an executive order was issued following a brief suspension of the platform, which occurred when a national ban, sanctioned by Congress and upheld by the US Supreme Court, came into effect. In April, White House officials were optimistic about reaching an agreement to divest TikTok into a new entity under US ownership. However, this initiative collapsed when China withdrew its support in response to Trump’s tariff announcement.
The frequency with which Trump may extend the ban remains uncertain, as the government persists in its efforts to negotiate a deal concerning TikTok, a platform owned by China’s ByteDance. Although a definitive legal foundation for the extensions remains absent, there have yet to be any legal contests aimed at opposing them. Trump has accumulated over 15 million followers on TikTok since his arrival on the platform last year, attributing his success to the trendsetting nature of the platform in engaging young voters. He stated in January that he has a warm spot for TikTok.
The ongoing extensions suggest that a ban on TikTok in the US is becoming increasingly improbable in the near future. The choice to sustain TikTok via an executive order has garnered some criticism; however, it has not encountered a legal challenge in court, in contrast to numerous other executive orders issued by Trump. Jeremy Goldman, analyst at Emarketer, described TikTok’s US situation as a deadline purgatory.
The entire situation is beginning to resemble not a ticking clock, but rather a repetitive ringtone. This political scenario is beginning to mirror the debt ceiling saga: a persistent threat lacking any genuine resolution. Currently, TikTok remains operational for its 170 million users in the US, with major tech companies such as Apple, Google, and Oracle agreeing to maintain their support for the app, contingent upon assurances that Trump’s Justice Department would refrain from leveraging the law to impose potentially significant fines on them.
Americans exhibit an even greater division regarding the appropriate course of action concerning TikTok than they did two years prior. A recent survey conducted by the Pew Research Centre revealed that approximately one-third of Americans expressed support for a TikTok ban, a decrease from 50 percent in March 2023. Approximately one-third indicated opposition to a ban, while a comparable proportion expressed uncertainty.
Among those who expressed support for banning the social media platform, approximately 80% identified concerns regarding the risk to users’ data security as a significant factor influencing their decision, as noted in the report. Democratic Sen Mark Warner of Virginia, vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, stated that the Trump administration is once again disregarding the law and overlooking its own national security assessments regarding the dangers associated with a China-controlled TikTok. An executive order cannot circumvent the law, yet that is precisely what the president is attempting to accomplish, Warner noted.
