US President Donald Trump has granted a third extension to ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, to sell the video-sharing app to an American buyer, allowing the platform to continue operating in the United States for another 90 days.
Trump signed the executive order on Thursday, formally extending the deadline for a sale until September 17, 2025. In a post on Truth Social, Trump confirmed the move:
“I’ve just signed the Executive Order extending the Deadline for the TikTok closing for 90 days… Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
TikTok’s service remains alive
The extension is aimed at ensuring TikTok’s 170 million American users do not lose access to the platform while ownership negotiations continue.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that the administration’s priority is to ensure data security while preserving access to the app.
“President Trump does not want TikTok to go dark,” Leavitt said.
“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.”
The latest move marks a notable shift in Trump’s stance from his first term in office, when he signed an executive order banning TikTok in 2020 on national security grounds.
That ban was later overturned by US courts.
The Biden administration revived the effort to restrict TikTok through legislation, culminating in a law that mandates ByteDance divest the app to a U.S. buyer or face a ban.
That statute has since been upheld by the US Supreme Court.
TikTok briefly went offline in the US earlier this year after the ban took effect, but service was restored shortly after Trump’s inauguration, following his public signaling that he intended to keep the app operational.
Everybody wants to buy TikTok
ByteDance has yet to publicly indicate whether it plans to comply with the divestment order.
The company previously stated it would not sell TikTok, but it has remained silent since the latest developments.
Ahead of a prior deadline on April 5, several potential buyers expressed interest in acquiring TikTok’s US operations.
Amazon submitted a last-minute bid, while Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian joined investor Frank McCourt in a separate proposal.
Other interested parties included Perplexity AI, an AI-powered search startup, and Steven Mnuchin, the former US Treasury Secretary under Trump.
Despite optimism within the Trump administration that a deal could be finalized, escalating trade tensions and a new round of tariffs on Chinese goods complicated negotiations, and no sale was completed before the April deadline.
The complexity of a TikTok deal
While aboard Air Force One on Wednesday, Trump said he believed Chinese President Xi Jinping would ultimately need to approve any sale of TikTok.
ByteDance is headquartered in Beijing, and any transaction involving its core assets would likely require approval from Chinese regulators.
“I think he’ll be amenable,” Trump said, referring to Xi. “If a buyer comes forward, I believe he would have to sign off.”
Analysts view the prolonged process as emblematic of the broader US-China tech rivalry, where issues of national security, data privacy, and geopolitical strategy frequently collide.
TikTok has consistently denied posing any security threat to US users and has said that American user data is not stored in China.
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