If you’re a TikTok user in the United States, you’ve been given more time to keep scrolling. On June 20, former President Donald Trump signed an executive order that offers TikTok another 90 days to separate from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, or face a nationwide ban. This marks the third time Trump has extended the deadline for the video-sharing app to sell off its US operations or be shut down.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the extension in a statement issued on Tuesday. “President Trump has signed an executive order extending the deadline to mid-September,” she said. “The administration will use the next 90 days to work toward a deal that keeps Americans’ data safe and secure.”
While this delay gives TikTok another chance to resolve its future in the US, critics say it raises serious legal questions and could place tech companies in a difficult position.
Ongoing delays create legal uncertainty for US companies
The extension gives TikTok a solid chance to finalise a deal, but legal experts and lawmakers are unsure. The original law, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, passed Congress with wide bipartisan support and was upheld by the Supreme Court. It allows for penalties in the hundreds of billions of dollars for companies that continue to provide access to banned apps after the deadline.
However, Trump’s extensions — including this latest one — aren’t part of that law. That leaves companies like Apple, Google, and Oracle relying on verbal or written assurances from the government rather than actual legal protection. This has worried several lawmakers, who argue that Trump’s approach may not be legally sound.
In April, Senator Mark Warner, Vice Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, criticised Trump’s previous extension, saying it was “against the law.” He added, “The whole thing is a sham if the algorithm doesn’t move from Beijing’s hands.”
Other senators, including Ed Markey, Chris Van Hollen, and Cory Booker, also voiced concern. They wrote to Trump, calling it “unacceptable and unworkable” for his administration to ignore what the law requires. They warned that further delays force US tech companies into risky legal territory, potentially exposing them to huge financial penalties.
No deal in sight, and frustration builds in Washington
Although ByteDance had been in talks earlier this year with a group led by Oracle to sell TikTok’s US operations, those negotiations fell apart. According to insiders, Trump’s trade policies, particularly tariffs, caused tensions that derailed the agreement. Even when the deal seemed close, China reportedly wasn’t willing to let ByteDance sell TikTok’s valuable recommendation algorithm, which is the core of the app’s success.
Legislators say any deal is pointless without that algorithm. Meanwhile, there has been no public progress on reviving negotiations or proposing a new solution.
Some Republicans are growing frustrated as well. In April, 12 GOP lawmakers released a joint statement urging the White House to make sure “U.S. law is followed and that the Chinese Communist Party does not have access to American user data or the ability to manipulate the content consumed by Americans.”
Senator Josh Hawley, another vocal critic, said Trump should stop delaying and ban TikTok outright. “This middle way, I don’t think is viable,” he told reporters.
Despite the pushback, no one has taken Trump to court to challenge the extensions. But pressure is building. A Google shareholder recently sued the company for not releasing internal records about why it continued to allow TikTok in its stores. That same shareholder is also suing the Department of Justice, demanding clarity on why the law isn’t being enforced.
The deadline now stretches to mid-September, but many wonder whether this will be the final one—or just another pause in a long-running political and legal standoff over TikTok’s fate in the US.
