U.S. President Donald Trump has considered the possibility of extending the deadline given to the social media platform TikTok to separate from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, in order to avoid its shutdown in the United States. In a press conference at the White House, Trump indicated that, while the deadline could be extended, he does not believe it is necessary as there is significant interest from various individuals and companies in acquiring TikTok.
On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order delaying the implementation of a federal law that required ByteDance to sell TikTok to continue operating in the country by 75 days. As a result, the app ceased functioning for a few hours in the U.S., as the law went into effect just before Trump took office.
The legislation, approved in April 2024 due to national security concerns and with bipartisan support, granted ByteDance nine months to divest its operations in the U.S. and sell them to a buyer not considered an "adversary" of the country. In this context, Trump recently signed another order requesting the Treasury and Commerce to create a fund that could acquire the video platform, and mentioned that Microsoft was in talks to buy TikTok.
In summary, Trump has mentioned the possibility of extending the deadline for TikTok to separate from ByteDance and avoid its shutdown in the U.S., claiming that there is interest from potential buyers in acquiring the popular short video social network.
