President Donald Trump announced Friday he will sign an executive order extending the deadline for TikTok’s Chinese owner to find an American buyer by 75 days, preventing an imminent ban of the popular social media platform used by approximately 170 million Americans.
“My Administration has been working very hard on a Deal to SAVE TIKTOK, and we have made tremendous progress,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “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.”
The extension comes as ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, has shown resistance to divesting the platform despite a 2024 law requiring the sale or ban of TikTok on national security grounds. ByteDance has remained publicly silent about potential buyers and had previously stated it did not plan to sell the app.
This marks the second time Trump has delayed enforcement of the bipartisan legislation, which was unanimously upheld by the Supreme Court during the final days of the Biden administration. The original deadline was January 19, which Trump initially extended to April 5.
The announcement fell short of expectations set by Vice President JD Vance, who along with national security adviser Michael Waltz has been overseeing TikTok negotiations. Vance had expressed confidence just a day earlier on Fox News that a deal would be finalized before the April 5 deadline.
“It’ll come out before the deadline,” Vance told Fox News on Thursday. “We need a couple days to continue working on it, to finalize things.”
Several potential buyers have expressed interest in acquiring TikTok, including Wyoming entrepreneur Reid Rasner, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian (partnered with billionaire investor Frank McCourt), AI search engine startup Perplexity AI, and former Trump Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
However, cybersecurity experts caution that national security concerns would persist if ByteDance maintains control of TikTok’s algorithm, even with partial American ownership.
“The main reason for all this is the control of data and the control of the algorithm,” said Chris Pierson, CEO of cybersecurity company BlackCloak. “If neither of those two things change, then it has not changed the underlying purpose, and it has not changed the underlying risks that are presented.”
Some legal experts question Trump’s authority to unilaterally delay enforcement of the law. Alan Rozenshtein, an associate law professor at the University of Minnesota, pushed back on Trump’s claim that he is extending the deadline.
“He’s not extending anything. This continues to simply be a unilateral non-enforcement declaration,” Rozenshtein said. “All he’s doing is saying that he will not enforce the law for 75 more days.”
The extension comes amid shifting public opinion about TikTok. A recent Pew Research Center survey found Americans evenly split into thirds: those supporting a ban, those opposing it, and those undecided—down from 50% supporting a ban in March 2023.
The TikTok situation has become entangled with broader U.S.-China relations. On the same day as Trump’s announcement, China imposed a 34% tariff on all American imports, escalating tensions following Trump’s recent “Liberation Day” tariff package.
Trump acknowledged this connection in his statement, saying his administration hopes “to continue working in Good Faith with China, who I understand are not very happy about our Reciprocal Tariffs.” He added that the situation “proves that Tariffs are the most powerful Economic tool, and very important to our National Security!”
For TikTok creators, the continued uncertainty is taking a toll. “I’m glad there’s an extension, but to be honest, going through this process again feels a bit exhausting,” said Terrell Wade, who has 1.5 million followers on the platform. “Every time a new deadline pops up, it starts to feel less like a real threat and more like background noise.”
The new deadline gives the administration until mid-June to finalize a deal that satisfies both national security concerns and Trump’s stated desire to keep TikTok operating in the United States.