Trump gives Tiktok a further 75 days to line up to find and trade new buyers as Amazon, Millbeast and Alexis Ohanian
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump said Friday he is signing an executive order to continue Tiktok running in the United States for another 75 days to give his administration more time to mediate a deal 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, claims that the platform is not sold.
“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.”
A spokesman for the ordinance noted in a statement that the company is discussing “potential solutions” with the US government, but that “the agreement has not been enforced.”
“There are important issues that need to be resolved,” the spokesman said. “The contract is subject to approval under Chinese law.”
Tiktok, headquartered in Singapore and Los Angeles, said that.User safety is prioritizedand China’s Foreign Ministry said the Chinese government never asked businesses to “collect or provide data, information, or information” held overseas.
Trump’s ban delay marks the second mark he temporarily blockedLaw 2024This banned popular social video apps after the deadline passed. The law was passed with bipartisan support in Congress and was unanimously supported by the Supreme Court.
Those national security concerns persist if the extension does not have control over Tiktok’s algorithms.
Chris Pierson, CEO of cybersecurity and privacy protection platform BlackCloak, said that if the algorithm is still controlled by ordinances, it is “controlled by a foreign hostile nation state where it can actually use that data for other means.”
“The main reason for all this is data management and algorithm control,” said Pearson, who served on the Department of Homeland Security’s Privacy Committee and Cybersecurity Subcommittee for more than a decade. “If neither of these two things change, it has not changed its fundamental purpose, nor has it changed the underlying risks presented.”
The Republican president’s executive order has facilitated more than 130 lawsuits in the two months he has been in office, but the orders delaying the ban on Tiktok have been barely snooped. None of these cases challenge his temporary block of law.
The law allows for 90 days of reprieve, but only if there is a transaction on the table and there is a formal notice to the Congress. Alan Rosenstin, an associate law professor at the University of Minnesota, said Trump’s actions so far have violated the law.
Rozenshtein pushed back Trump’s claim that delaying the ban was an “extension.”
“He has not extended anything. This continues to be simply a one-sided non-enforcement declaration,” he said. “What he’s doing is saying he won’t enforce the law for another 75 days. The law is still in effect. Companies are still violating by providing services to Tiktok.
“The national security risks posed by Tiktok will last under this extension, he said.
Vitus Spehar, who runs the Tiktok account @underthedesknews, said they are benefiting from the expansion, but “we are worried about the precedent set to direct his Justice Department to not enforce the laws passed in Congress.”
“I hope that the bill will be passed to repeal the ban and ends around this time,” they said.
This extension comes when Americans are even more closely divided about what to do about Tiktok than they were two years ago.
recentlyPew Research Center SurveyIt turns out that about a third of Americans said they supported the ban on Tiktok from 50% in March 2023. About a third said they opposed the ban, and similar proportions said they were not sure.
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, their data security is cited.
Terrell Wade, a comedian, actor and content creator with 1.5 million followers on Tiktok, under the handle, is looking to grow his presence on other platforms.The ban was threatened in January.
“I’m happy to have an extension, but honestly, going through this process again makes me feel a little tired,” he said. “Every time a new deadline comes to mind, it doesn’t feel like a real threat, it starts to feel like a background noise. That doesn’t mean I’m ignoring it, but it’s hard to keep responding to the same urgency every time.”
He maintains his profile Instagram, YouTube In addition to Tiktok, we also have Facebook.
“I hope we’ll get more clear soon so that creators like me and consumers can focus on other things rather than “What ifs,”” he said.
This story was originally introduced Fortune.com