President Trump Will ‘Probably’ Extend TikTok Ban Deadline
President Donald Trump says he will “probably” extend the deadline for the sale of TikTok — as reports suggest there have still not been any negotiations between the app’s Chinese owner and prospective buyers.
On Thursday, President Trump suggested he would consider extending the ban on TikTok for a second time if a deal isn’t reached by April 5.
In response to questions at the White House about the video app’s status in the U.S., Trump tells reporters that there is “a lot of interest” in TikTok and “right now we have at least another month, so we don’t need an extension.”
“If I needed an extension, I’d probably get it extended,” Trump says. “We have a lot of interest in TikTok. And China is going to play a role, so hopefully, China will approve of the deal, but they are going to play a role. But we have a lot of interest in TikTok.”
On January 19, American social media users briefly had no access to TikTok after a law banning it on national security grounds came into effect.
However, TikTok resumed services hours later and restored access to its 170 million users in the U.S. after Trump issued an executive order to delay the app’s ban. The executive order delayed TikTok’s ban for 75 days, giving the app more time to find a U.S. buyer.
Who Will Buy TikTok?
Since the executive order, Trump says that he wants to help broker a sale of TikTok– and that he believes the U.S. government should be granted a 50% stake in the company as a condition.
This week, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian joined a bid to buy TikTok. Microsoft has reportedly been in talks to buy the app too, according to President Trump.
However, according to a report by Axios on Thursday, sources say there still haven’t been negotiations between its Chinese owner and prospective buyers.
Axios reports that potential buyers have grown frustrated by their lack of access to TikTok’s financial and technological details. Additionally, there is reportedly uncertainty over who is leading the Trump administration’s negotiations for the deal.
Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.
