President Donald Trump said Friday that national security and privacy concerns over TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance are “highly overrated.” He added that he will keep extending the deadline for the video-sharing app until a buyer is found.
Congress had earlier approved a law banning TikTok in the U.S. unless ByteDance sold its controlling stake. However, Trump has already extended the deadline three times during his second term, with the next one coming up on September 17.
“We’re going to watch the security concerns,” Trump told reporters. “We have American buyers, and until the complexities are worked out, we just extend a little bit longer.”
Multiple Extensions and Failed Agreements
The first extension came through an executive order on January 20, Trump’s first day back in office, after TikTok briefly went dark when the national ban, approved by Congress and upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, took effect. The second extension came in April, when the White House believed it was close to a deal to spin off TikTok into a U.S.-owned company. That deal collapsed after China withdrew support following Trump’s tariff announcement.
Trump’s latest remarks came shortly after the White House itself started a TikTok account. “I used TikTok in the campaign,” Trump said. “I’m a fan of TikTok. My kids like TikTok. Young people love TikTok. If we could keep it going.”
Public Opinion is Mixed
With the repeated extensions, it seems less likely that TikTok will be banned in the U.S. soon. The decision to keep the app alive through executive orders has drawn some criticism, but unlike many of Trump’s other executive actions, this one has not yet been challenged in court.
Meanwhile, public opinion is deeply split. A recent Pew Research Center survey found that about one-third of Americans support banning TikTok, compared to 50% in March 2023. Another one-third oppose a ban, while the rest remain undecided. Among those in favor of a ban, around 80% said concerns about user data security were a major factor in their stance.
