President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to delay the ban or sale of TikTok for the third time. The order gives the Chinese-owned social media company another 90 days to find a buyer or be banned in the US.
“I’ve just signed the Executive Order extending the Deadline for the TikTok closing for 90 days (September 17, 2025),” the president said in a Truth Social post.
Trump’s first executive order giving TikTok a reprieve came on his first day in office – just three days after the supreme court ruled to uphold the ban. Trump issued the second executive order in April. The deadline for the sale or ban was then set for 19 June. Now, TikTok has until September.
Mark Warner, a Democratic senator and the vice-chair of the Senate intelligence committee, accused Trump of sidestepping the law with an executive order.
“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,” Warner said in a statement.
TikTok is a tremendously popular social media app with 170 million users in the US. ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, said in April that it had been in discussion with the US government regarding a solution for the app. It added that any agreement “will be subject to approval under Chinese law”.
Before Trump issued his second executive order on TikTok, a possible deal was reportedly in place. But, according to Reuters, China put that deal on hold after Trump announced sweeping tariffs against the country.
At the time, Trump indicated he was using tariffs for leverage in the deal. “We have a situation with TikTok where China will probably say we’ll approve a deal, but will you do something on the tariffs. The tariffs give us great power to negotiate,” Trump said.
The idea of banning TikTok originated with Trump in 2020, who said the Chinese-owned app posed a danger to national security. It quickly became a bipartisan issue and Congress overwhelmingly voted to ban the app last year, which faced a legal challenge but was ultimately affirmed in the supreme court. The original deadline for the TikTok ban was on 19 January.
Trump switched his stance on TikTok after joining the app while campaigning for president last year, amassing nearly 15 million followers and hosting the TikTok CEO, Shou Zi Chew, at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Chew also attended Trump’s inauguration.
Several US investors have expressed interest in buying the social media app, which is likely worth tens of billions of dollars. Among those who’ve reportedly thrown in bids are a consortium led by the software giant Oracle, asset manager Blackstone, Amazon, Walmart, billionaire Frank McCourt, a crypto foundation and the founder of the adult website OnlyFans.
TikTok, ByteDance and the White House did not return requests for comment.
