WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday said he would sign an executive order to continue running in the US for another 75 days, giving his administration more time to trade to introduce social media platforms under American ownership.
Congress had mandated that the platform would be sold from China by January 19 or banned in the US on national security reasons, but Trump unilaterally moved to extend the deadline this weekend as he tried to negotiate an agreement to continue doing so. Trump has recently entertained various offers from US companies seeking to buy shares of popular social media sites, but the Chinese ordinance, which owns Tiktok and its closely held algorithm, claim that the platform is not on sale.
“My administration has worked very hard to save Tiktok. We have made great strides,” Trump posted on his social media platform. “This transaction requires more work to ensure that all necessary approvals are signed, which is why we are signing an executive order to keep Tiktok up and running for another 75 days.”
Trump added: “We look forward to working with Tiktok and China to close the deal.”
Tiktok, headquartered in Singapore and Los Angeles, said it prioritizes user safety, and China’s Foreign Ministry said it never asks businesses to “collect or provide data, information, or information” held overseas.
The president’s executive order has facilitated more than 130 cases in the two months he took office, but none of these cases challenge his original decision to keep Tiktok alive through the executive order.
This extension comes when Americans are even more closely divided about what to do about Tiktok than they were two years ago.
A recent survey by the Puri Research Center found that about a third of Americans responded that 50% in March 2023 supported the ban on Tiktok. About a third said they opposed the ban, and similar proportions said they were unsure.
Among those who support the ban on social media platforms, eight out of ten people who are at risk as the main factor in their decisions, data security for users are cited.
Original issue: April 4, 2025, 1:54pm EDT
