Impending TikTok ban in the USA: deadline extension possible again

The social media app TikTok has long been threatened with a ban in the USA if the US division is not sold to an American investor. However, US President Donald Trump has already granted ByteDance, the Chinese company behind TikTok, a reprieve once and could now do so again. His harsh tariff policy towards China has caused fierce tensions, which could also complicate the TikTok talks. However, an American TikTok shutdown would be rather inconvenient for Trump, who says he reaches many young people via the platform.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) claims to have heard from Republican circles that he wants to delay the implementation of the TikTok ban by decree once again. The deadline for a sale of the US division is currently mid-June, without a US takeover TikTok would then have to be shut down in the United States. The previous government passed the corresponding law. The background to this was the fear that the Chinese government could use TikTok to spy on and influence US citizens.

US takeover on hold for now

At the beginning of the year, the White House initially tried to initiate a takeover by Oracle, Microsoft and other US investors. It was thwarted again in April when Trump imposed tariffs of over 100 percent China. According to members of the Trump administration, the takeover proposal from January is not yet off the table, but its survival is unlikely, reports the WSJ.

One day after the tariffs came into force, ByteDance representatives emphasized that China would not agree to a deal until there were negotiations on the tariffs. Furthermore, from ByteDance's perspective, important key aspects still had to be clarified and, according to Chinese law, state approval for a possible takeover had to be obtained. Trump agreed on new trade talks during a phone call with China's President Xi Jinping on Thursday, but TikTok was not an issue during the call, according to the WSJ.

The main argument in favor of a further extension of the deadline for TikTok in the US is that Trump sees himself as a beneficiary of the platform. He even lobbied the US Supreme Court to stop the law at the end of 2024. He himself communicates with around 15 million TikTok followers every day and also runs his social media platform, Truth Social, which gives him the necessary expertise to negotiate with TikTok, he affirmed at the time. In general, he sees himself as particularly successful with young voters and attributes this to social networks. "I won the youth vote by 34 points and there are people who say TikTok has something to do with it," Trump said in mid-December. That sounded very different during his first term in office – when he himself had called for a ban on the platform.

(nen)