Trump to Extend TikTok Divestment Deadline for Third Time
President Donald Trump will extend ByteDance’s TikTok divestment deadline for a third time, the White House said in a statement Tuesday evening.
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“President Trump will sign an additional Executive Order this week to keep TikTok up and running,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. “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.”
“We're going to extend it," Trump told reporters Wednesday at the White House. "We're going to probably make a deal. I think we'll need China's blessing on it."
Some Senate Republicans have been pushing for DOJ to enforce the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (see 2506060046). Former President Joe Biden signed the law in 2024, setting a Jan. 19 deadline for ByteDance to divest TikTok or face a ban in the U.S. Trump announced a 75-day extension in January and a second extension in April, which is set to expire Thursday.
In a statement Wednesday, Senate Intelligence Committee ranking member Mark Warner, D-Va., said: “Once again, the Trump administration is flouting the law and ignoring its own national security findings about the risks posed by a PRC-controlled TikTok. An executive order can’t sidestep the law, but that’s exactly what the president is trying to do.”