WASHINGTON − President Donald Trump has again extended the deadline for a TikTok ban to go into effect, allowing the Chinese-owned social platform to continue operating for the 90 days.
Trump said earlier in the week that he planned to give TikTok a third extension and signed an executive order on June 19 making it official. It was the third time that Trump authorized a delay.
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The popular social media app’s parent company, ByteDance, now has until Sept. 17 to secure a deal that satisfies a legal requirement. Lawmakers ordered TikTok to divest from its Chinese ownership or face a ban in the United States over national security concerns.
Former President Joe Biden signed the bipartisan legislation into law. But since returning to office, Trump has directed the Department of Justice not to enforce it. His executive orders have kept the app from going dark.
Trump ordered Vice President JD Vance and his then-national security adviser, Mike Waltz, to help facilitate a deal that would prevent user data from being accessed by the Chinese government. U.S. officials said they were on the verge of reaching an agreement in April but hit stumbling blocks when Trump ratcheted up tariffs on China.
Is TikTok getting banned? Trump says he’ll ‘probably’ extend deadline again
Trade relations between the two nations have improved since then but a TikTok deal remains on ice. It was not clear if TikTok came up when Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump spoke by phone for the first time on June 5.
“We probably have to get China approval. I think we’ll get it,” Trump told reporters on June 17. “I think President Xi will ultimately approve it.”
TikTok has 170 million users in the United States, most of them young Americans, who Trump has said he does not believe are at risk from being spied on.
“If China is going to get information about young kids, I don’t know. To be honest with you, I think we have bigger problems than that,” he told reporters.
China denies that it interferes in the affairs of private businesses.
Contributing: Joey Garrison
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump signs executive order delaying a ban on TikTok
