Shortly after Monday's inauguration, President Donald Trump signed an executive order extending the deadline for ByteDance to sell TikTok's U.S. operations, preventing the app from going dark another 75 days.
The executive order instructs the US Attorney General to avoid enforcing laws that ban the app and require companies like Apple and Google to remove it from their app stores. TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Days before the January 19 deadline, Trump suggested that he would “save” the app after officially taking office. In an interview with Kristen Welker at NBC News on SaturdayTrump said he would give ByteDance more time to find a buyer, but did not explain how he planned to do that. “We have to look at it carefully. It's a huge situation,” he said.
In a social media post on Truth on SundayTrump confirmed that the extension will be done through an executive order allowing his administration to negotiate a deal with ByteDance. In his post, Trump said he would pursue a 50% joint venture agreement with ByteDance, preferably with a US entity.
“By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands, and allow it to (continue) to exist,” Trump wrote. “Without US approval, there would be no TikTok. With our approval, it's worth hundreds of billions of dollars – possibly trillions of dollars.”
ByteDance and TikTok have not yet publicly responded to Trump's proposal. At Monday's signing ceremony, Trump said he thought TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew would “really like it.” Trump said private companies could participate in sponsoring the negotiations. “I think there's a lot of interest in TikTok with the US as a partner,” he said.
The executive order itself does not mention divestment but instead says that the 75-day period is to “allow the opportunity to determine the appropriate future direction in an orderly manner.”
The rush to keep TikTok online comes after the company suffered a devastating blow at the hands of the government. United States Supreme Court. On Friday, the court upheld a law forcing the sale of TikTok to an American owner in a bid to block a nationwide ban. This decision was made just two days before the law took effect.
Just before midnight on Saturday, TikTok users received a notification warning that the app was no longer available to US users due to sale or ban laws. At the same time Apple and Google removed the app from their app stores, other apps owned by ByteDance, including CapCut, Lemon8, and Marvel Snap, were also taken down. TikTok was down for about 15 hours before the company issued a statement saying it would be back up and running.
“As agreed with our service providers, TikTok is in the process of restoring service. We thank President Trump for providing needed clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties for making TikTok available to more than 170 million Americans. and enable more than 7 million small businesses to grow,” the company said. Sunday evening.
The divestment law has faced opposition from both sides. “Meetings are being held in Washington DC to try to lift this TikTok ban,” Soulja Boy wrote. post on X on the weekend. The rap artist was in town to perform at the crypto industry launch party.
A series of American financiers Consider purchasing the appincluding former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt and former Trump Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. McCourt's Liberty Project officially bid after the Supreme Court announced its decision. Elon Musk's name was also mentioned in deal negotiations with the Chinese government, according to Bloomberg.
On Monday, Trump suggested that he could impose retaliatory tariffs on China if the Chinese government refuses to negotiate a deal that addresses the US government's national security concerns with TikTok. “I'm not saying I would, but you certainly could,” he said.