Checking in on the TikTok-U.S. saga, on day 142 since the official TikTok sell-off bill was enacted, which outlines that TikTok must be sold to a U.S.-based company, or be banned for all Americans.
And nope, TikTok still isn’t banned, and with just 8 days remaining in the second 75-day hold on enforcement of the bill, President Trump is once again indicating that he’ll approve yet another extension, in order to ensure that TikTok remains available in the U.S.
To recap, in April last year, the U.S. Senate approved the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act,” which, among other measures, included the provision that TikTok must be sold into U.S. ownership in order to remain in operation in the region.
Also worth noting: The final vote on the bill was 79 to 18 in favor.
Then-President Joe Biden signed the bill into law days later, which meant that TikTok had 9 months to arrange a sale, in order to avoid the ban. Which it didn’t. TikTok opted to challenge the bill in the Supreme Court instead, an appeal that it eventually lost, which meant that TikTok would be banned in the U.S. on January 19th, 2025.
And it was, momentarily. But after Trump’s inauguration on January 20th, the President signed an executive order which granted TikTok a 75-day hold on enforcement of the bill, so that he could personally assist in arranging the sale. That gave TikTok till early April to arrange sale, and when that deadline was also reached without any movement on a deal, Trump granted a second 75-day hold via executive order once again.
Which runs out on Wednesday next week (June 18th), meaning that TikTok is once again facing the axe in the U.S.
But again, Trump has said that he’ll sign another executive order to save it.
In an interview with NBC News last week, Trump said that he’s hoping to get a deal done, but an extension is required, he would be willing to grant it.
Some have questioned the legal implications of such, given that Trump is effectively refusing to enforce a law that was approved by both the Senate and the former President, which, technically, he has no say over. And as per the official legislation, Trump is only allowed to grant a 90-day extension on the bill, but because Trump is instead putting a hold on the law, not blocking it, via executive order, he actually can continue to delay enforcement, as opposed to refusing to enact it.
So it looks like TikTok will continue to be available in the U.S., despite having no official deal in place, and despite the fact that it’s actually operating in the region in violation of federal law, and is only allowed to do so at the President’s whim.
Why is Trump so keen to keep TikTok running?
Because as Trump himself has noted, during the last election campaign, he became “a big star” in the app, amassing millions of followers, which helped him communicate his campaign messages to younger voters.
Trump clearly has an affinity for the platform as a result, though his relative popularity is not the focus of the bill, which relates to lingering cybersecurity concerns around transfers of data back to China, as well as the spread of Chinese government propaganda in the app.
It’s difficult to prove that either is or isn’t happening, and there’s been no publicly published evidence to suggest that TikTok is involved in either activity. But those concerns remain, and if anything, have likely become an even bigger issue in light of Trump’s latest trade war with Beijing.
Though U.S.-China relations have improved in recent weeks, which maybe gives some hope of a TikTok sale being announced sometime soon.
It remains to be seen whether the Chinese government will be willing to allow the app to be sold to the U.S. at all, but it also doesn’t seem like TikTok will be going away anytime soon either way, based on Trump’s statements.
So TikTok remains in the U.S., and should do for some time yet. Maybe not as solid a foundation as many creators would like, but another 75-day extension would give it till September 1st before the next re-assessment.
