Trump to delay TikTok ban for the third time with 90-day extension
"As he has said many times, President Trump does not want TikTok to go dark," Leavitt said, adding that the administration will continue to work during the 90-day period to secure a deal with TikTok so Americans "can continue to use TikTok with the assurance that their data is safe and secure."
More: Trump considers extending TikTok deadline. Is third time a charm?
Trump's action, which was widely expected, will mark the third time since returning to the White House that he's delayed a TikTok sell-or-ban law from going into effect after it was passed by Congress in 2024 and signed by former President Joe Biden.
The law requires TikTok's Beijing-based parent company, ByteDance, to divest TikTok's U.S. or be banned from U.S. app stores and web hosting companies. The next deadline was set for Thursday, June 19.
More: 'I got to use it': Donald Trump's evolution from TikTok foe to a fan
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have raised national security concerns with TikTok, arguing that ByteDance may be sharing U.S. user data with the Chinese government. ByteDance has denied these claims and Trump has downplayed such concerns.
TikTok, especially popular among young Americans, has 170 million users in the United States. Trump has credited his 2024 presidential campaign's use of TikTok for helping him improve his performance with young voters from his previous two elections.
Parties that have expressed interest in purchasing Tiktok include the tech company Oracle, billionaire businessman Frank McCourt's Project Liberty and Andreessen Horowitz, a California-based venture founded by billionaire investor Marc Andreessen.
During TikTok's initial Jan. 19 sell-or-ban deadline - the final full day of the Biden administration - TikTok went dark for a little more than 12 hours in the U.S. when the ban went into effect. U.S. internet hosting services made TikTok unavailable to access, and app stores removed the app for download.
But the outage was short-lived. On his first day of office, Trump signed an executive order delaying the TikTok ban by 75 days.
Contributing: Greta Cross of USA TODAY
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.
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