TikTok’s ability to continue operating in the United States will be extended for the third time, the White House confirms.

CNBC quoted White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt saying that another 90-day extension will be issued. She said US President Donald Trump will sign an additional executive order.

This is despite former President Biden in April 2024 having signed a bill into law that gave Chinese owner ByteDance up to a year to divest TikTok, or face a nationwide ban across the United States.

National security law

It should be remembered that TikTok is already been banned on US federal devices due to national security concerns, and a majority of US states have also banned the app on state-owned devices.

After Biden signed that bill, ByteDance faced a divest deadline or a sale of TikTok by Sunday 19 January 2025. After that deadline, Internet service providers (ISPs) faced being penalised for supporting TikTok’s operations in the country.

TikTok had temporarily suspended its service in the US for several hours ahead of the 19 January deadline, but then restored service after Trump said he planned to extend the deadline.

Shortly after that Trump signed an executive order that shifted the deadline forward 75 days (to April), and he expressed a desire to give a US entity a 50 percent stake in the app to keep it available in the country.

That first executive order meant that TikTok’s 19 January deadline was pushed back until Saturday 5 April 2025.

But in April the White House extended the deadline for a divestiture of TikTok’s US assets by another 75 days.

This came after President Trump had in March offered Beijing an ‘inducement’ for them to approve the sale of TikTok’s operations in the United States, saying that he would consider a reduction in tariffs on China if the Chinese government approves a sale of TikTok’s US operations.

But Beijing has not backed down.

Deadline extension

With TikTok facing a Thursday 19 June 2025 deadline, the White House has confirmed a third extension will be signed by President Trump.

“President Trump will sign an additional Executive Order this week to keep TikTok up and running,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was quoted by CNBC in a statement.

“As he has said many times, President Trump does not want TikTok to go dark. This extension will last 90 days, which the Administration will spend working to ensure this deal is closed so that the American people can continue to use TikTok with the assurance that their data is safe and secure.”

Multiple parties including Amazon, Oracle, AppLovin, and billionaire Frank McCourt’s Project Liberty consortium have expressed interest in buying TikTok’s US operations.

But for now it is unclear whether the Chinese government would approve a deal considering Trump’s tariffs.