President Donald Trump will reportedly delay the U.S. TikTok ban again this week, with plans to sign yet another executive order staving off its enforcement. If he does so, it will mark the third time the president has pushed back the ban's deadline, which is currently set for this Thursday.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt shared Trump's plans regarding TikTok in a statement to CNN, revealing that the president will sign a new executive order within the next few days. The extension will stay TikTok's execution for 90 days, longer than was previously granted in each of the two 75-day delays Trump issued in January and April.
"[T]he Administration will spend [the expected 90 day delay] 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," Leavitt told CNN.
Trump previously indicated in May that he would delay the U.S. TikTok ban for a third time, repeating that he has a "warm spot" for the app and was working on a deal to keep it available.
It's still unclear exactly who Trump hopes will buy TikTok to enable it to remain in the country. Multiple candidates have put themselves forward, from YouTuber MrBeast to the U.S. government itself, though software company Oracle appears to be the frontrunner. Though regardless of who attempts to buy TikTok, Trump's sweeping tariffs on China seems to have killed the possibility of a sale being approved any time soon.
Why is the U.S. banning TikTok?
U.S. lawmakers have expressed concern about TikTok for years, claiming that the Chinese government uses it to spy on users (though there is no public evidence that this is happening) and accusing it of manipulating its algorithm to present China in a favourable light. Some legislators have also expressed desire for a TikTok ban in order to stop the spread of pro-Palestinian content.
Also known as the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA), the U.S. TikTok ban requires its Chinese parent company ByteDance to divest from its U.S. operations if the app is to remain available in the country. Specifically, the ban demands that ByteDance sell TikTok to a company that the U.S. government doesn't classify as controlled by a "foreign adversary" such as China.
If ByteDance fails to do this yet continues to operate in the U.S., TikTok could be hit with a fine of approximately $850 billion, composed of penalties reaching up to $5,000 for each of its 170 million users within the country. While ByteDance's recent valuation of over $400 billion is no small chunk of change, it's still less than half of this gargantuan potential fine. This means ByteDance will be forced to shut down its U.S. operations unless it sells to an approved company.
Signed into law by former president Joe Biden, the TikTok ban was initially scheduled to take effect from Jan. 19. As this was just one day prior to Trump's inauguration, the White House made clear it would not enforce the ban during this brief period, leaving the matter to the incoming administration.
However, despite his own efforts to ban TikTok during his first term as president, Trump's views on the popular app appear to have changed. Preferring to "keep this sucker around," one of Trump's first acts as president was to issue a temporary delay on enforcing the ban, which allowed TikTok to remain in the U.S. until April 5. He then issued a second delay just one day before that April deadline, pushing the TikTok ban back until June 19.
