Trump says he gives Tiktok for another 75 days to find an American buyer

By Fatima Hussein, Aamer Madhani and Sarah Parvini, Associated Press

West Palm Beach, Florida (AP)-President Donald Trump said on Friday that he signed an executive decree for Tiktok to work in the United States for an additional 75 days to give his administration more time to negotiate an agreement to conclude the social media platform under American property.

The order was announced while the White House officials thought they were approaching an agreement for the application operations to be transferred to a new company based in the United States and owned and operated by a majority of American investors, China’s Bydance retaining a minority post, according to a person familiar with the problem.

But Beijing hit the brakes in an agreement Thursday after Trump announced large prices around the world, including against China. The representatives of Bytedance called the White House to indicate that China would no longer approve of the agreement until there may be negotiations on trade and the prices, said that the person, who spoke subject to anonymity to discuss the sensitive details of the negotiations.

The congress had forced that the platform was deactivated from China before January 19 or be prohibited in the United States for national security reasons, but Trump has unilaterally moved to extend the deadline this weekend, while he was trying to negotiate an agreement to make it work. Trump recently entertained a range of offers from American companies seeking to buy a share of the popular social media site, but China’s Bytedance, which has Tiktok and its closely organized algorithm, publicly insisted that the platform is not for sale.

But Friday, he became uncertain if a provisional agreement could be announced after the overthrow of the Chinese government of his position had complicated Tiktok’s ability to send clear signals on the nature of the agreement that had been reached for fear of upsetting his negotiations with Chinese regulators.

Trump rather announced that he signed an executive decree to extend a 75 -day break on the ban which was to come into force on Saturday.

The quasi-deal was built during the months, with the team of the vice-president JD Vance negotiating directly with several potential investors and Bytedance officials.

The plan provided for a 120 -day closing period to finalize documents and funding. The agreement also had the approval of existing investors, new investors, Bydance and administration.

The Trump administration had confidence that China would approve of the agreement proposed until the entry into force of the prices. Trump said on Friday that he could still conclude an agreement during the 75 -day extension.

“My administration worked very hard on an agreement to save Tiktok, and we have made huge progress,” said Trump on his social media platform. “The agreement requires more work to ensure that all the necessary approvals are signed, which is why I point out an executive decree to maintain operational Tiktok for 75 additional days.”

Trump added: “We can’t wait to work with Tiktok and China to conclude the agreement.”

A Bytedance spokesperson confirmed in a statement that the company discussed a “potential solution” with the American government, but noted that “an agreement had not been executed”.

“There are key questions to resolve,” said the spokesperson. “Any agreement will be subject to approval under Chinese law.”

Tiktok, who has the head office in Singapore and Los Angeles, said that he favors user security, and the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that the Chinese government has never and would not ask companies to “collect or provide data, information or information” detained in foreign countries.

Trump’s delay of the ban marks the second time that he temporarily blocked the 2024 law which prohibited the popular social video application after the deadline has been adopted so that Bytedance breaks. This law was adopted with bipartite support for the congress and unanimously confirmed the Supreme Court, which declared that the prohibition was necessary for national security.

If the extension keeps control of the Tiktok algorithm under the authority of Bytedance, these national security problems persist.

Chris Pierson, CEO of the cybersecurity protection platform and blackcloak privacy protection, said that the algorithm is still controlled by Bytedance, it is still “controlled by a company that is in a foreign national state that could really use this data for other means”.

“The main reason for all of this is data control and control of the algorithm,” said Pierson, who has sat on the subcommittee of the Department of Internal Security and Cybersecurity Department for more than a decade. “If none of these two things change, she has not changed the underlying goal, and that has not changed the underlying risks that are presented.”

The executive orders of the Republican president stimulated more than 130 undergoing proceedings during the two months he was in office, but his order delaying a prohibition of Tiktok barely generated a glance. None of these combinations defy its temporary block of the law prohibiting Tiktok.

The law authorizes a 90 -day stay, but only if there is an agreement on the table and an official notification at the Congress. Until now, Trump’s actions have violated the law, said Alan Rozenshtein, professor of associate law at the University of Minnesota.

Rozenshtein rejected Trump’s assertion that the delay in the ban is an “extension”.

“It does not extend anything. This continues to be simply a unilateral declaration of non-application,” he said. “All he does is to say that he will not apply the law for 75 days more. The law is still in force. Companies are still violating it by providing services to Tiktok.

“The national security risks posed by Tiktok persist under this extension,” he said.

Vitus Spehar, who heads the tiktok @Underthedesknews account, said that although they benefit from the extension, they are “concerned about the previous one that Trump has planned to direct his Ministry of Justice not to apply the laws adopted by the Congress”.

“I would like to see a bill adopted to repeal the ban, and the end of this alley once and for all,” they said.

The extension comes at a time when the Americans are even more closely divided on what to do about Tiktok than they were two years ago.

A recent investigation by Pew Research Center revealed that around a third of Americans said they had supported a tiktok ban, against 50% in March 2023. About a third, said they would oppose a ban, and a similar percentage said they were not sure.

Among those who said they had supported the ban on the social media platform, around 8 out of 10, cited concerns about the security of user data as a major factor in their decision, according to the report.

Terrell Wade, actor, actor and content creator with 1.5 million followers on Tiktok under the handle @thewadeempire, has been trying to develop his presence on other platforms since the ban was threatened in January.

“I am happy that there is an extension, but to be honest, going through this process is again a little exhausting,” he said. “Whenever a new deadline appears, it starts to look less like a real threat and more like background noise. It does not mean that I ignore it, but it is difficult to continue to react with the same emergency each time.”

He maintains his profile on Instagram, YouTube and Facebook in addition to Tiktok.

“I just hope that we will soon have more clarity so that creators like me and consumers can focus on other things rather than on” What Ifs “,” he said.

AP Mae Anderson’s sales writer in New York contributed to this story.

Originally published: April 4, 2025 at 10:54 a.m.