After an original deadline of Jan. 19, TikTok faces the possibility of banishment in the United States again on April 5.
President Donald Trump reportedly has confidence that his administration can convince parent company ByteDance, which is based in China, to sell. If ByteDance does not sell the social media app by the deadline, Americans will no longer have access to post, share or watch videos.
“We have a lot of potential buyers,” Trump said last week, as reported by The Associated Press. He added that he would consider reducing tariffs on China if the Chinese government approves selling TikTok to a non-Chinese company.
American lawmakers, especially U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner of Virginia, who is now vice chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, have raised concerns about the Chinese-based social media app and the fact that ByteDance is bound by Chinese law to share data with its government. Legislation signed into law by former President Joe Biden in April 2024 was an answer.
However, upon taking office January 20, 2025, Trump delayed the ban for 75 days although he attempted to ban TikTok during his first term as president. He now credits the platform for gaining him more young voters in his second term.
“I won the young vote by 36 points. Republicans generally don’t do very well with the young vote. I think a lot of it could have been TikTok,” Trump said Sunday. Extending the deadline again is possible.
In late January, TikTok was dark for American users briefly before returning. A few days before Trump took office, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the federal law enacted by Biden.
Several possible buyers have expressed interest in the last few months to purchase TikTok, including artificial intelligence startup Perplexity AI, a consortium organized by billionaire businessman Frank McCourt, a consortium organized by payroll firm founder Employer.com Jesse Tinsley, Microsoft and former Trump treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin and Rumble.
McCourt’s consortium offered $20 billion in cash for TikTok’s U.S. platform. Their plan is to redesign the social media app with blockchain technology so that users have more control of their online data.
Tinsley’s consortium offered more than $30 billion.
Rumble posted on X in late March that it is interested in joining a consortium and purchasing TikTok, and serving as a tech partner.
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TikTok ban in U.S. remains in effect for Jan. 19 after loss of bid to block legislation
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Rebecca Barnabi
