Former U.S. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order giving TikTok a new 90-day extension, delaying enforcement of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act.
The move pushes the deadline to 17 September 2025, giving TikTok’s parent company ByteDance more time to divest its U.S. operations and avoid a nationwide ban.
A closer look at the latest delay
The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, passed in April 2024, gives ByteDance until 19 January 2025 to sell its stake in TikTok’s U.S. operations or face removal from American app stores. This latest extension, issued on 19 June 2025, is the third 90-day delay granted by Trump since his return to office.
While the law only explicitly allows one 90-day extension, Trump justified the move as necessary to allow more time for negotiations to secure American user data and finalize a sale. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the delay was in the “best interest of national security.”
What’s holding the sale back?
ByteDance has said it is working with U.S. authorities to meet the law’s requirements. However, any sale must be approved not just by Washington, but also by regulators in Beijing. Past sale efforts—such as one involving Oracle and Walmart—fell through, and recent reports suggest that no deal has yet been finalized.
Talks with several potential buyers, including Amazon and private equity firms, are ongoing but complicated by international trade tensions and data sovereignty concerns. In the meantime, TikTok remains operational for its 170 million users in the United States.
Legal and political reactions
Some lawmakers are raising concerns about the legal limits of repeated extensions. Critics, including members of Congress, argue that issuing more than one 90-day delay may violate the terms of the Act. Legal experts say the current extension could face challenges in court, particularly since the law appears to restrict such latitude.
Senator Mark Warner, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, criticized the delay, saying that it undermines the intent of Congress and may weaken national security safeguards.
What comes next?
With the new deadline set for 17 September 2025, the pressure is on ByteDance to strike a deal or risk losing one of its biggest markets. Would a U.S.-based data infrastructure help TikTok avoid bans in other countries too?
Stay tuned to TechNave.com for more updates.
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