**TikTok’s 90-Day Lifeline: A Summary of the Executive Order**
The White House has announced that President Donald Trump is set to sign a new executive order that will provide TikTok with a 90-day reprieve to evade a ban in the United States. This action marks the third occasion on which the enforcement of a law, which officially commenced in January, has been postponed.
As stated by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, the government intends to keep TikTok operational for its 170 million American users while negotiating a deal that safeguards user data. Leavitt remarked, “President Trump does not want TikTok to be unavailable. (…) This extension will endure for 90 days, during which the Administration will work to finalize this agreement, enabling the American populace to use TikTok with the confidence that their data is secure and protected.”
In spite of bipartisan legislation that compels ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, to divest the app or face a ban, the platform remains accessible. The initial deadline for either a sale or a ban lapsed in mid-January, triggering a short 14-hour interruption before Trump stepped in with a 75-day extension. After that extension expired, another 75-day pause was introduced, and now TikTok has been granted yet another 90-day stay.
This recent extension aligns with continuous discussions between the U.S. and China aimed at mitigating trade and technology disputes. President Trump has voiced hopefulness about securing an agreement, indicating that any potential sale of TikTok would likely necessitate consent from the Chinese government. He mentioned, “I think we’ll get it. I think President Xi will ultimately approve it, yes.”
The prospective deal that was nearing completion earlier this year involved a coalition of American venture capitalists, private equity firms, and technology companies that would establish a U.S.-controlled TikTok spinoff, with ByteDance retaining a minority interest capped at 20%. Multiple bidders have surfaced, including Amazon, the AI company Perplexity, and a collective of celebrity investors led by YouTube’s MrBeast.
For now, ByteDance-owned TikTok has been granted another 90 days in the U.S. App Store, permitting its users to keep interacting with the platform while negotiations progress.
