On Saturday, April 5, United States President Donald Trump announced an extension of 75 days for TikTok on his Truth Social platform, stating that the TikTok deal “requires more work to ensure all necessary approvals are signed.” He added that he was signing an executive order “to keep TikTok up and running for an additional 75 days.” With this development, the 170 million subscribers connected to TikTok in the United States have been granted a reprieve, allowing them to continue their activities on the app without interruption.
This fresh deadline, secured through an executive order, comes after the expiration of the initial 75-day extension on April 5. The owners of TikTok, ByteDance of China, now have an additional 75 days to fully divest from their American operations or face the prospect of being banned outright. China, already entangled in a heated trade standoff with the United States, is feeling the squeeze with a 54 per cent aggregate tariff on goods imported into the US, while retaliating with 34% in counter-tariffs.
Several potential buyers for TikTok have emerged as the deadline looms. Amazon has reportedly made a last-minute offer to acquire the platform, though the company has declined to comment publicly. Other contenders include billionaire Frank McCourt, who has teamed up with Canadian businessman Kevin O’Leary, while Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit, has joined forces with McCourt’s bid. Tech giant Microsoft, private equity firm Blackstone, venture capital powerhouse Andreessen Horowitz and the up-and-coming search engine Perplexity AI are also believed to be in the race to secure a stake in TikTok.
President Trump has revealed that his administration is engaging with four separate groups interested in acquiring TikTok, although he has chosen not to disclose their identities. Vice-president, JD Vance is leading the administration’s charge to secure a buyer and Trump has even hinted at the possibility of brokering a broader deal, one in which China would approve the sale of TikTok in exchange for relief from US tariffs on Chinese imports. “We hope to continue working in good faith with China, who I understand are not very happy about our reciprocal tariffs,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. He emphasised that the trade levies remain “the most powerful economic tool, and very important to our national security.”
The president has made it clear that he does not want TikTok to “go dark” in the US. “We look forward to working with TikTok and China to close the deal,” he wrote, signalling a willingness to find common ground. TikTok is owned by Chinese company ByteDance and, while Trump’s first extension of the deadline came shortly after he assumed office in January, it expired on Saturday, April 5, 2025.
ByteDance, in a statement released on Friday, April 4, acknowledged that it had been in discussions with the Trump administration but admitted that “an agreement has not been executed.” The spokesperson added, “There are key matters to be resolved. Any agreement will be subject to approval under Chinese law.”
The origins of this protracted saga trace back to former President Joe Biden’s administration, which raised alarms over the potential for TikTok to be exploited by China as a tool for espionage and political manipulation. Last year, Congress passed a bipartisan law granting ByteDance six months to sell its controlling stake in TikTok or face a ban in the United States. Critics of the proposed ban, however, have argued that it infringes on freedom of speech, pointing out that millions of Americans use the platform for self-expression and creativity.
Nonetheless, the new extension granted by Trump appears to be a strategic move as his administration continues to navigate complex negotiations to bring the popular platform under American ownership. “The deal requires more work to ensure all necessary approvals are signed,” Trump reiterated on Truth Social, echoing earlier sentiments.
Agency reports indicate that a TikTok deal was close to completion on Wednesday of the previous week but unraveled after Trump announced sweeping global tariffs that included China. Following this, ByteDance representatives contacted the White House, informing officials that China would no longer approve the deal unless trade negotiations could resume. According to unnamed sources, the original plan was for Trump to sign an order initiating 120 days for closing the deal, allowing ample time for the necessary paperwork and financing to be secured.
The agreement had reportedly secured buy-in from existing and prospective investors, ByteDance, and the US government. However, once the new global import taxes were imposed, China withdrew its support. In response, the Chinese embassy in Washington DC issued a statement condemning what it described as “practices that violate the basic principles of the market economy.”
A federal law signed by President Biden in 2024 had effectively laid the groundwork for banning TikTok if ByteDance failed to divest. Initially, the law stipulated that the app would be permanently disabled in the US by January 20, 2025. However, Trump’s executive order extended the deadline by 75 days, buying more time for negotiations.
The TikTok ban, which enjoyed overwhelming bipartisan support, compelled ByteDance to relinquish ownership of the short-form video app, citing national security concerns. US officials have consistently maintained that the Chinese government, viewed as an adversary, could access sensitive TikTok user data belonging to Americans or use the platform to disseminate propaganda.
The law not only targeted TikTok directly but also forced web service providers to cease hosting the app and mandated that Apple and Google remove it from their app stores. TikTok challenged the law to the US Supreme Court, arguing that it violated its First Amendment rights and other constitutional protections. A group of TikTok users also filed a companion case, claiming that they too were being deprived of their constitutional rights.
However, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the government, concluding that TikTok, as a foreign entity, was not entitled to constitutional protections and that national security concerns outweighed any potential restrictions on free speech. The court reasoned that the law’s impact on free expression was limited, as users could still access and post content on other social media platforms.
The legislation to ban TikTok, should it fail to divest its US operations, had broad backing from both republicans and democrats. While some lawmakers had urged President Biden to grant a reprieve to prevent TikTok from going dark on January 19, 2025, the looming ban had already triggered a wave of so-called “TikTok refugees” migrating to RedNote, also known as “Little Red Book,” another Chinese app that skyrocketed to become the most downloaded app in Apple’s US App Store in the week leading up to the Supreme Court’s decision. If this trend continues, the migration to a similar platform could undermine the very objectives of the Act.
The TikTok ban exemplifies how US regulatory actions aim to mitigate perceived threats posed by foreign adversaries, significantly increasing compliance burdens for cross-border investments and technology operations. In particular, the Supreme Court’s ruling underscores the intensifying scrutiny directed at foreign-controlled entities handling sensitive data in the United States.
While it remains unclear whether TikTok will ultimately secure a reprieve, there are growing indications that the Trump administration is seeking more time to fully grasp the situation and perhaps position itself to be the administration that either saves TikTok or enforces the ban. The stakes are undeniably high.
TikTok now boasts 1.925 billion users globally, with 170 million monthly active users in the United States alone. The average daily time spent on TikTok has more than doubled, rising from 27 minutes in 2019 to 58 minutes by 2024. Entertainment, dance and prank videos dominate the platform, amassing billions of views. Influencers such as Charli D’Amelio, Khabane Lame, and Addison Rae have tens of millions of followers, contributing to the app’s meteoric rise.
TikTok’s user base has grown exponentially from 133 million in 2018 to over 1.925 billion by 2024. Daily active users now number in the millions, highlighting the platform’s ability to capture and retain global attention.
In 2020, President Trump had already signed an executive order citing TikTok’s vast data collection as a national security threat, an early indicator of the battle that continues today. As this saga unfolds, all eyes remain on Washington to see whether TikTok will navigate these troubled waters or find itself consigned to the digital shadows.
