San Francisco – According to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, President Donald Trump will move forward this week with an order giving TikTok 90 additional days to complete a U.S. sale or face a potential ban.
The app, owned by Chinese parent company ByteDance, was previously facing a U.S. shutdown due to national security concerns. The reprieve means TikTok can continue operating through the next three months.
“The extension allows time to finalize the deal, ensuring Americans can continue using TikTok with confidence that their data is protected,” Leavitt said.
Trump has a history of targeting TikTok, first pushing for its sale in 2020. Renewed efforts gained traction after Congress passed a “sale-or-ban” bill in 2024, which the U.S. Supreme Court upheld in January. The app briefly went dark over inauguration weekend but was reactivated by Trump soon after taking office.
Despite earlier legal battles, Trump’s tone toward the platform has shifted.
“I have a warm spot for TikTok. I won youth by 34 points,” he remarked, referring to his success with younger voters during the 2024 election.
A number of American investors are reportedly interested in acquiring TikTok, including Oracle, billionaire Frank McCourt, investor Kevin O’Leary, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, and popular YouTuber MrBeast, who is said to be organizing his own investment group.
Industry observers now question whether a full ban is still likely.
“There’s nothing ‘looming’ about a ban anymore,” said Kelsey Chickering, an analyst at Forrester.
As of now, neither TikTok nor its parent company ByteDance has commented publicly, despite the platform’s massive U.S. user base of 170 million.
