Trump extends TikTok sale deadline for third time

President Donald Trump signed a third extension of the deadline for TikTok's Beijing-based parent company ByteDance to sell the video app to an American company. 

"As he has said many times, President Trump does not want TikTok to go dark," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said June 18. 

The 90-day extension expires Sept. 17.

In 2024, President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan bill that would've banned TikTok on Jan. 19, 2025, unless ByteDance sold the app to a U.S. company. The bill added penalties for companies such as Apple or Google if they maintained access to the app in their app stores after the deadline. 

However, Trump used executive orders to push back the original Jan. 19 deadline to April 5, then again to June 19. The orders also instructed the Justice Department to withhold any potential penalties against companies for having the app in their stores. 

"We are grateful for President Trump's leadership and support in ensuring that TikTok continues to be available for more than 170 million American users and 7.5 million U.S. businesses that rely on the platform as we continue to work with Vice President Vance's Office," TikTok wrote in a public statement.

In April, multiple news outlets reported that a deal among ByteDance and several American companies had been in the works; the American companies would control TikTok's U.S. operations while ByteDance would maintain a 20% stake in the company. However, the deal stalled when Trump imposed new tariffs on China.

Multiple members of Congress criticized Trump's continued delay of the TikTok ban. 

"Once again, the Trump administration is flouting the law and ignoring its own national security findings about the risks posed by a (People's Republic of China)-controlled TikTok," Sen. Mark Warner D-a., vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said June 18.. 

U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., who voted for the bill, told reporters recently, "I'm fine with him trying to sell it, that's fine, but I think at a certain point we've got to enforce this law."

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, told reporters June 17, "I'd like to see the law go into effect."

For now, Trump intends to keep negotiating rather than enforce the law. The new order giving the White House a three-month window to make a deal for the app leaves this promise rated In the Works.  

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