On the eve of the expiration of the extension Donald Trump granted ByteDance on its deadline to sell TikTok to a U.S. entity, or be banned again, the president has announced plans to issue another executive order extending the deadline by 75 additional days. In a Truth Social post, he detailed an ongoing deal to “save TikTok,” writing: “The Deal requires more work to ensure all necessary approvals are signed.”
Trump has tried to frame the move as a positive development in communication with China after the country imposed a reciprocal 34-percent tariff on all U.S. goods on Friday. “We hope to continue working in Good Faith with China, who I understand are not very happy about our Reciprocal Tariffs,” he said. “This proves that Tariffs are the most powerful Economic tool, and very important to our National Security.”
The president cannot overturn a law passed by Congress with an executive order, and many have questioned whether Trump’s extension is legal.
Joe Biden signed a congressional bill forcing ByteDance to sell TikTok in April 2024, citing national security concerns related to China’s control over the data of the estimated 170 million Americans who use the short-form video platform. It was slated to go into effect on Sunday, Jan. 19, one day before Trump took office. TikTok blacked out a few hours early, disappearing from the app store on Saturday, Jan. 18 and showing users who already had the app the message: “Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now. A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now.”
TikTok was back up and running within 14 hours, though it took a while longer for it to return to the app store. Users were welcomed back with a message thanking Trump, even though he hadn’t yet signed the lifeline executive order. “We thank President Trump for providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties providing TikTok to over 170 million Americans and allowing over 7 million small businesses to thrive,” the company said in a statement. “We will work with President Trump on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States.”
In his Truth Social post on Friday, Trump continued: “We do not want TikTok to ‘go dark.’ We look forward to working with TikTok and China to close the Deal.”
Meanwhile, U.S.-based companies continue to circle TikTok. According to ABC, Walmart has submitted a bid to purchase the app after it was reported that Amazon planned to do the same. Oracle, Applovin, and OnlyFans founder Tim Stokely have also expressed interest. Walmart has wanted to make a bid to buy the app since 2020, when it teamed up with Microsoft after Trump signed the first executive order threatening to kill TikTok in the U.S. over supposed national security concerns.
“We are shocked by the recent Executive Order, which was issued without any due process,” TikTok said at the time. “For nearly a year, we have sought to engage with the US government in good faith to provide a constructive solution to the concerns that have been expressed. What we encountered instead was that the Administration paid no attention to facts, dictated terms of an agreement without going through standard legal processes, and tried to insert itself into negotiations between private businesses.”
In December, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the ban and the Supreme Court upheld it in January, with both courts unanimously ruling that the law is constitutional. Whether Trump’s repeated deadline extensions align with the bipartisan legislation is unclear, but unlikely.
From Rolling Stone US
