TikTok will live on for at least another three months in the United States, as President Donald Trump is poised to extend a sale or ban deadline for the third time since taking office this year.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday that President Trump would sign an additional Executive Order this week to keep TikTok up and running.
The popular video-sharing app was supposed to be banned in the US after its Chinese owner, ByteDance, refused to sell it to a US buyer by a January deadline.
Leavitt said the 90-day extension would 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.
Before Leavitt’s announcement, Trump told the BBC that he would “probably” extend the TikTok deadline.
Trump’s extension is at odds with the will of Congress, which passed the sale-or-ban measure last year. His predecessor, former President Joe Biden, immediately signed the bill into law.
The law was aimed at addressing concerns that TikTok, which has 170 million American users, could be used by China as a tool for spying and political manipulation.
The Supreme Court agreed with a lower court and upheld the law in January, just before Trump was set to take office.
The platform went dark for a few hours during the weekend before Trump’s inauguration. TikTok praised Trump for saving the platform after it became available again.
English (US) ·