US TikTok users, you still have time to make your dance videos after Donald Trump extended the deadline for a third time, allowing the platform to divest from its Chinese-owned parent company, ByteDance, or face a US ban.
Notorious liar, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, confirmed in a statement on Tuesday that Felon 47 will sign an executive order allowing for another 90-day extension, pushing the new deadline to mid-September.
Leavitt said the Trump administration will be “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.”
When Trump signed the first extension, it provided TikTok’s US service providers, which are subject to the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, with protection from the hundreds of billions in penalties they would face if they continued to operate the app online and in US app stores.
According to The Verge’s reporting, that legal cover wasn’t rock solid because Trump’s extensions are not codified into law, which was passed overwhelmingly by a bipartisan vote in Congress and subsequently upheld as constitutional by the Supreme Court.
There Was A Tentative Agreement In Place Before Trump’s Tariffs Killed It
The website previously reported that ByteDance and a coalition led by Oracle were close to a deal in April, but thanks to Trump’s abuse of tariffs, which sank the tentative agreement.
Even though the “trade war” between China and the US has cooled down, there is still no word on whether the old deal is back on the table or if a new agreement is being discussed.
Additionally, it wasn’t guaranteed that ByteDance would be willing to include TikTok’s algorithm, which powers its video recommendations.
Additionally, several lawmakers, including critics of the “divest or ban law,” are sounding the alarm over Trump’s repeated extensions, calling them “untenable and illegal.”
We remain curious to see how this drama unfolds, as it appears there is no deal in sight.