Since October, there has been no formal word on a deal between the Trump administration and China over the app.
WASHINGTON โ Despite a flurry of messaging from the White House over the past year about a potential TikTok deal reached with China, we are again at the deadline for the app to be banned in the U.S.ย
Which begs the question: Will President Donald Trump extend the ban a fifth time, defying Congress yet again to preserve the social media app?ย
For a short while in January, the app stopped functioning on U.S. phones to comply with a law banning it, which was approved by Congress under President Joe Biden.ย
But Trump, through an executive order, brought the social media platform back to app stores in the U.S. in a series of deadline extensions while his administration worked out a deal with the Chinese government to hand over operations for TikTok.ย
As he claimed his administration was making progress on a deal, Trump repeatedly extended the deadline through subsequent executive orders, delaying the ban throughout the year.ย
In September, Trump formally extended the deadline to keep TikTok available in the United States until Dec. 16, giving time to complete the framework of the tentative deal announced earlier that month after talks between American and Chinese government officials.
The executive order signed on Sept. 16 by Trump was the fourth time he has bypassed federal law to prolong the deadline for the China-associated TikTok to sell its assets to an American company or face a ban. The original deadline was Jan. 19 of this year, a day before Trump took the oath of office for his second term.
He has said there are companies that want to buy the social media app owned by ByteDance and that details about its potential suitors would be announced soon.
โI hate to see value like that thrown out the window,โ Trump told reporters.
Later in September, Trump said prominent billionaires, including media mogul Rupert Murdoch and tech founder Michael Dell, could be part of a deal in which the U.S. will take control of the platform’s North American operations.ย
A senior White House official said that tech giant Oracle would spearhead the U.S. oversight of the TikTok algorithm and security features. The U.S. administration would not have a stake in the joint venture nor be part of its board, the White House official said.
Near the end of October, Trump administration officials said the deal with China could be finalized by the start of November. But since then, there has been radio silence.ย
It’s likely that the administration’s priorities shifted in the months since, with headlines about Trump’s reported connection with disgraced pedophile and financier Jeffrey Epstein and about the administration’s strikes on boats near Venezuela dominating the news.ย
But with the newest deadline coming up, and no word from the administration on a confirmed deal, the situation surrounding TikTok remains uncertain.ย
Neither TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance nor Beijing have announced approval of a sale, despite Trump’s claims.
