US President Donald Trump has extended the deadline for TikTok to find a non-Chinese buyer by 75 days, giving the company until June 19 to finalize a solution.
The extension comes after Trump stated on Truth Social that his administration has made significant progress in negotiating a deal for TikTok’s US operations.
The video-sharing app, with over 170 million users in the US, has been under threat from a law requiring its Chinese owner, ByteDance, to sell the app or face a shutdown in the country. While the US government is pushing for the app’s sale, few details about potential buyers have been disclosed.
ByteDance confirmed ongoing talks with the US government but warned that “key matters” remained unresolved. The company emphasized that any final deal would require approval under Chinese law.
The proposed deal involves multiple investors, including Oracle, Blackstone, and possibly Walmart, who would help reduce ByteDance’s stake in TikTok’s new independent global entity.
U.S. government’s concerns over TikTok’s ties to China stem from national security fears, with the belief that the app could be used to influence US interests. In January 2020, Trump initiated a ban on TikTok, which was temporarily delayed, and the app was restored in US app stores.
The current negotiations also involve the app’s valuable algorithm, which some reports suggest may be licensed from ByteDance, though such an arrangement could contradict the intent of the law designed to limit China’s influence over the platform.
