Trump considers extending deadline for TikTok sale again

According to insiders, the US government under President Donald Trump wants to extend the deadline for the sale or spin-off of TikTok's US operations once again. The Chinese parent company ByteDance was originally supposed to find a solution by September 17 or shut down the app in the US.

This would be the fourth extension since the law came into force, which required ByteDance to sell by January 2025.

Trump said in August that he had found buyers in the US and could extend the deadline. On Sunday, however, he remained vague: “We are negotiating right now. Maybe we'll let it die, maybe we won't — it depends on China.”

TikTok has around 170 million users in the US. Critics in Washington warn that Beijing could misuse the platform for espionage or censorship. Trump himself, however, emphasizes that he wants to keep the app.

An earlier deal to establish a US-led company was halted after China signaled that it would not approve the transfer of the algorithm.

Over the weekend, US representatives in Spain began new trade talks with China, with TikTok officially on the agenda for the first time – but a breakthrough before September 17 is considered unlikely.

(reuters, est)