President Trump announced on Friday that he intended to sign an executive order allowing TikTok an additional 75 days to secure a buyer to keep the platform operational. Trump mentioned in a post on his Truth Social platform that his administration had been actively working on a deal to save TikTok, making substantial progress. He emphasized the need for further work to ensure all necessary approvals are obtained, prompting the extension.

Reports have suggested multiple potential buyers, including Andreessen Horowitz, Amazon, Walmart, and others, expressing interest in acquiring the popular app with its 170 million US users. Trump expressed hope for continued cooperation with China in good faith, despite potential disagreements over reciprocal tariffs affecting trade relations.

The US government's ban on TikTok, signed into law by former President Joe Biden in 2024, prohibits the app's operations under Chinese ownership. Initially, the law mandated TikTok's permanent shutdown on Jan. 20, but Trump's executive order extended this deadline by 75 days to facilitate the divestment of the app by its parent company, ByteDance.

US officials have raised concerns about national security threats posed by TikTok's Chinese ownership, expressing fears about potential data breaches or propaganda dissemination by the Chinese government. The legislation mandates web service providers to cease supporting TikTok, requiring Apple and Google to remove the app from their stores.

Despite legal challenges from TikTok asserting violations of its constitutional rights, the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of the government, citing national security interests as superior to the platform's foreign entity status. The court also contended that users could engage on alternative social media platforms, limiting the impact on free speech rights.