Is the US banning TikTok? President Trump extends ban deadline
TikTokThe law banning TikTok in the United States took effect on Sunday, January 19, but President Trump quickly signed an order extending enforcement of the law.
Over the last few years, the United States government has had several attempts to prevent TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, from having access to the data of US citizens due to data privacy concerns and its connection to the Chinese Communist Party.
The most recent move involves a bill that forces ByteDance to sell off its US operations within nine months from April 24, 2024, or face a ‘ban’ in the country. Here’s everything we know.
Is TikTok getting banned in the USA?
The bill signed in April 2024 that would have banned TikTok took effect on January 19, 2025, but it is not currently being enforced.
TikTok went offline on the evening of January 18, stating that it could no longer provide service to users in the United States. However, after working out an agreement with then-incoming President Donald Trump, the company was able to restart servers and provide access to the service on January 19, 2025.
The day after access returned, President Trump signed an executive order extending the TikTok ban deadline by 75 days. This means that if TikTok’s parent company ByteDance does not sell its shares of the app before April 5, 2025, the app will be banned in the United States.
ByteDance has expressed many times in the past that it has no interest in selling off the short-form video app, but that hasn’t stopped people from putting in offers to acquire it.
YouTube sensation Jimmy ‘MrBeast’ Donaldson says he has had meetings with multiple billionaires to put together a plan to acquire TikTok, and says he has even put in the offer.
Senators Ro Khanna and Rand Paul have also introduced a bill in Congress to attempt to repeal the TikTok ban law entirely, meaning the company would not have to sell anything in order to remain active in the United States if the bill passes.
Despite the TikTok ban not being enforced just yet, many are still waiting for Apple and Google to re-add TikTok to its app stores. We will update this article as further developments become known.