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President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he signed an executive order extending the deadline for TikTok’s divestment until early September, giving the social media platform another chance to survive in the United States.
According to the order, the new deadline is September 17, bringing the order forward another 90 days from its April extension into June.
As reported by RSBN, Trump had indicated prior to this executive order (EO) that he would likely allow TikTok more time to divest its U.S. assets or face a ban in the United States. The platform is owned by parent company ByteDance, and is based in Beijing, China.
To survive in the U.S., TikTok’s American assets would have to be purchased by an American entity. During an interview with Kristen Welker in May, Trump said he had a “little warm spot in his heart for TikTok.”
“TikTok is — it’s very interesting, but it’ll be protected. It’ll be very strongly protected. But if it needs an extension, I would be willing to give it an extension, [it] might not need it,” the president stated, via RSBN.
Since taking office, President Trump has consistently extended the divestiture deadline for TikTok. In January, “Shark Tank” star and businessman Kevin O’Leary said he had joined Project Liberty founder Frank McCourt’s “The People’s Bid for TikTok” offer to purchase the platform for $20 billion, per CNBC.
However, the complex legal status of the platform has made such a sale difficult, thanks to the legalese of the congressional legislation ordering the company’s divestment and a strong court ruling at the beginning of the year.
Just before President Trump took office, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the new federal law ordering the platform to shut down operations in the United States if it failed to sell its U.S. portion to a domestic buyer.
When President Trump took office, just a few days following this ruling, he extended the divestiture deadline and has continued to do so.
