U.S. President Donald Trump will extend the looming TikTok ban for another 90 days later this week, the White House said today (via Axios). It will be the third extension Trump has put in place since taking office in January.
Trump's second TikTok extension will expire on June 19, and there appears to be no sign of a deal with China that would allow TikTok's U.S. operations to be sold to a U.S. company.
TikTok has been banned in the United States since January 19 due to the passing of the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, but Trump's extensions prevent the U.S. Department of Justice from enforcing the law and allow TikTok to remain operational.
The act required TikTok to be sold to a non-Chinese company or face shutdown in the U.S., but TikTok did not sell during the grace period before the law took effect. One day after TikTok was banned in the U.S. in January, Trump provided an extension, and he has since been working to establish a deal with China.
China has to sign off on any purchase agreement that TikTok parent company ByteDance makes with a U.S. company, and Trump's tariffs have reportedly led to trade tensions that have seen China refuse to cooperate.
TikTok continues to be available for download while the extensions are in place.
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