President Trump on Friday granted TikTok another reprieve by announcing he would extend the deadline for when the popular app had to make a deal to be separated from its Chinese owner, ByteDance, or face a ban in the United States.
TikTok, which had been facing a Saturday deadline for a deal, now has another 75 days to find a new owner to comply with a federal law that requires it to change its structure to resolve national security concerns. That puts the new deadline for a deal in mid-June.
The delay was President Trump’s second for TikTok this year. He first paused enforcement of the law in January, even after it was unanimously upheld by the Supreme Court.
“The Deal requires more work to ensure all necessary approvals are signed,” Mr. Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Friday, adding that “we do not want TikTok to ‘go dark.’” He added that he looked forward to “working with TikTok and China” to close the deal.
Mr. Trump’s latest action signals the intractable nature of the dilemma with TikTok, which has endured years of scrutiny in the United States over its Chinese ties. Even as lawmakers and U.S. officials repeatedly raised questions about whether TikTok was secure, the app cemented its role as a cultural juggernaut, with more than 170 million users in the country who use it to make memes and share videos.
The delay also renewed questions about Mr. Trump’s willingness to put presidential power ahead of the rule of law. The federal law that aimed to change TikTok’s ownership or have the app be banned was passed last year with wide bipartisan support and took effect in January. But Mr. Trump effectively overrode the law when he paused enforcement of it that month.
For now, one thing is certain: TikTok will continue to operate in the United States for the foreseeable future. In January, the app briefly went dark around the time the federal law took effect, before flickering back to life.
TikTok did not immediately return a request for comment.
