President Trump called national security and privacy concerns related to TikTok and ByteDance “highly overrated” on Friday and said that he'll keep extending the deadline for the ban until there's a buyer. Trump told reporters:
“We’re gonna watch the security concerns. We have buyers, American-buyers. Until the complexity of things work out, we just extend a little bit longer.”
President Trump has issued three successive extensions:
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First extension: On January 20, 2025 (his first day back in office), Trump signed an executive order delaying enforcement of the TikTok ban by 75 days, pushing the deadline to April 5, 2025.
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Second extension: On April 4, 2025, he signed another executive order delaying enforcement by another 75 days, moving the deadline to June 19, 2025.
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Third extension: On June 19, 2025, Trump granted a third delay, this time for 90 days, extending the deadline further to September 17, 2025.
- Fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth extensions: Now, based on his recent comments, it seems that the deadline will be extended indefinitely until the Trump Administration, ByteDance, and Beijing agree on terms of a sale — which I've predicted since the beginning is never going to happen. Furthermore ByteDance has never publicly confirmed that they're even entertaining a sale, and in fact have said the opposite — that they're not going to sell — on multiple occasions.
To make matters even worse (or better, depending on how you view things)… The White House joined TikTok on Tuesday and began sharing video clips of President Trump and his staff, portraying them as strong and effective American leaders. For example, one clip shows Trump declining phone calls from congressmen and threatening lawsuits during a press conference and another showcases Press Secretary Karoline Levitt ripping a NYT reporter after he asked a question at a press conference.
All this from a President who originally initiated the calls to ban TikTok nationally in 2020 during his first term, citing the danger of the Chinese Communist Party potentially accessing American user data. Accessing White House data is apparently fine though.
Meanwhile, China is laughing at America. The CCP published an editorial in the state-owned media outlet China Daily, first applauding the White House for creating an official TikTok account, and then gloating at the inconsistency between the White House's actions and Congress's ban of the app for security reasons. It wrote:
“TikTok’s appeal and effectiveness as a communication channel has not been lost on even the White House. That the White House launched its own account on the app less than one month before the third extended deadline expires only serves to expose the hypocrisy of the U.S. side’s alleged ‘security’ charges against TikTok.”
Look, I don't support the TikTok ban in general. I support a pipe dream of secure and privacy-focused mobile operating systems, apps, and Internet infrastructure that doesn't allow for ANY company (Chinese or American alike) to access American data. Banning TikTok is like putting a Band-aid on a much bigger issue.
I also support stable economic and advertising environments for the tens of thousands of small business owners who rely on TikTok to fuel their business growth in the U.S. — without them having to wait 75 or 90 days at a time to see if TikTok will still be a viable platform for them to market their businesses on this holiday season and ongoing. And that, my friends, is what we don't currently have.
In other TikTok news… the company denies rumors that the app has been unbanned in India, after brief website access sparked media reports of a possible comeback in the country, more than five years after it was banned. A TikTok representative told TechCrunch, “We have not restored access to TikTok in India and continue to comply with the Government of India's directive.”
