President Trump gives TikTok 75-day extension to sell its US business
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President Donald Trump has signed an executive order giving TikTok a 75-day extension to sell the platform’s US business in order to comply with a law that requires the sale of the app or will see it banned. Among an array of executive orders signed by the president after he took office on Monday, Mr Trump said his order would give TikTok’s China-based parent firm ByteDance more time to find a buyer.
Mr Trump has floated the idea of a 50-50 joint venture between ByteDance and the United States in ownership of TikTok, but further details on any such scheme and how that could work have not yet been shared, and ByteDance has so far resisted pressure to agree to any sale.
The executive order means the Trump administration will not enforce a law signed by former president Joe Biden last year which banned the app on national security grounds. The Biden administration argued the data of the 170 million Americans who use TikTok could fall into the hands of the Chinese government or that the site’s recommendation algorithm could be manipulated to sow discord in the United States.
Mr Trump supported a similar ban during his first term as president but has since said he changed his view after gaining traction on the platform which he claims helped him win younger voters during the presidential election. TikTok went dark in the US on Saturday ahead of the proposed ban coming into effect, but resumed service on Sunday evening after Mr Trump confirmed he would issue an executive order once he took office.
