UPDATED: The White House said that Donald Trump will again extend the deadline for China‘s ByteDance to divest TikTok.
“President Trump will sign an additional Executive Order this week to keep TikTok up and running,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. “As he has said many times, President Trump does not want TikTok to go dark. This extension will last 90 days, which the Administration will spend working to 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.”
Earlier on Wednesday, Trump told reporters on Air Force One that he would “probably” extend the deadline. “Probably have to get China approval but think we’ll get it. I think President Xi will ultimately approve it.”
Last year, Congress overwhelmingly approved legislation to require the divestiture, or TikTok would face a ban on U.S. app stores. The Supreme Court upheld the law, which included a provision that allows the president to extend the divestiture date.
The law went into effect on January 19, leading to a short blackout. When he took office, Trump extended the deadline into April. But he extended the enforcement of the law again, this time until Thursday.
When the deadline extension was meant to give U.S. investors a deal to purchase TikTok, relations with China have chilled as Trump imposed tariffs, reaching 145% at one point, in the first months of his term. Among the investors working on a deal is Frank McCourt Jr., the former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
In a recent interview with Entrepreneur, McCourt said that his plan does not require acuiring the TikTok algorithm. Rather, users and their data would be migrated to an open source platform, per the publication.
“We’re advocating for a new, better, advanced Internet where individuals own and control their identity and their data,” McCourt told the publication. “We’re in charge, and our social information is ours to share with others as we see fit.”
During his first term, Trump sought a divestiture of TikTok from its China owner. But Trump’s actions via executive order got sidelined in the courts. This term, he has been praiseworthy of TikTok, crediting it for helping him win over young voters.
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