WASHINGTON (BN24)— President Donald Trump has extended the deadline for ByteDance, the Chinese owner of TikTok, to finalize a sale of the app to a U.S.-based buyer, giving the company an additional 90 days to close a deal and avoid a nationwide ban. The extension, announced through an executive order signed Thursday, marks the third such reprieve granted to ByteDance since Trump returned to office and reignited concerns over Chinese access to American data.
“I’ve just signed the Executive Order extending the Deadline for the TikTok closing for 90 days (September 17, 2025). Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Trump posted on Truth Social.
The extension delays a potential shutdown of TikTok in the United States, allowing the platform, which has over 170 million American users, to remain online while negotiations continue. In a statement, TikTok welcomed the decision, thanking Trump for ensuring the platform remains accessible to both users and the 7.5 million U.S.-based businesses that depend on it.
“We are grateful for President Trump’s leadership and support in ensuring that TikTok continues to be available for more than 170 million American users and 7.5 million U.S. businesses that rely on the platform,” the company said, also noting ongoing cooperation with Vice President JD Vance’s office.
Speaking aboard Air Force One Wednesday morning, Trump said he believed Chinese President Xi Jinping would eventually approve a sale, noting that any deal involving TikTok would likely require sign-off from Beijing due to ByteDance’s headquarters in the Chinese capital.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the president’s priority is to keep TikTok available to Americans while ensuring their data is protected. “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,” she said.
Although a ban on TikTok was first legislated under the Biden administration, citing national security threats linked to Chinese data access, public support for such a move has waned. The app briefly went offline before Trump’s January inauguration, only to return once the administration signaled a more lenient stance. TikTok has repeatedly denied posing a national security risk, stating that U.S. user data is not stored in China.
Following last year’s congressional passage of the TikTok ban, a surge in user activity shifted to the Chinese social media platform RedNote. However, usage of that alternative has dropped significantly since TikTok resumed operations.
Trump’s latest extension follows previous efforts to enforce a sale. Upon entering office earlier this year, he granted ByteDance 75 days to reach an agreement with a U.S. buyer — a window that expired on April 5. In the days leading up to the deadline, several parties expressed interest, including Amazon, artificial intelligence startup Perplexity AI, and a consortium led by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian and billionaire Frank McCourt. Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin also emerged as a suitor.
Despite this interest, a sale never materialized, largely due to mounting trade tensions between the U.S. and China after the Trump administration imposed a new round of sweeping tariffs on Chinese goods. With no deal secured, Trump extended the deadline once more, culminating in Thursday’s order.
The legal backdrop remains complex. Under current U.S. law, ByteDance is required to divest from TikTok to continue operations in the American market. ByteDance, however, has not confirmed whether it intends to proceed with a sale, and has remained largely silent on the issue. The Supreme Court recently upheld the law mandating the sale or ban, reaffirming the pressure on ByteDance to comply.
Trump’s current approach marks a significant reversal from his first term, when he attempted to ban TikTok outright through executive order — a move that was ultimately blocked by federal courts. Now, rather than pushing for immediate removal, the administration appears to be banking on a deal that satisfies both national security requirements and public demand to keep the app running.
While the Biden-era law remains intact, its implementation has become entangled in a new political context. For now, TikTok continues to operate under temporary reprieve, with ByteDance once again on the clock.
