Trump Extends TikTok Ban Deadline as Details Emerge on Deal

A ban of TikTok has been delayed until later this year, after a new executive order was signed by President Donald Trump. (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)

President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he was again extending the deadline to enforce a ban of TikTok in the U.S.

The deadline to impose the ban, which stems from the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act passed by Congress in April 2024, will be extended until Dec. 16, 2025, Trump said in an executive order.

Former President Joe Biden signed the law that bans TikTok—unless the social-media platform is sold to an owner that isn’t controlled by a foreign adversary. Lawmakers have argued that TikTok, which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, poses a threat to national security as it collects user data. TikTok has denied this.

The law that bans TikTok states that if a qualified divestiture is in the works, the ban could be delayed while details are worked out.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday that the U.S. and China had reached a commercial agreement that would put TikTok in the hands of an American owner to address the national security concerns.

The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that, under an emerging deal, TikTok’s U.S. business would be controlled by an investor consortium, including tech company Oracle, Silver Lake, and Andreessen Horowitz, with Oracle handling user data at its facilities in Texas. The agreement is part of framework the U.S. and China are finalizing to keep the video sharing platform active in the U.S.

Shares of Oracle were up 1.5% in afternoon trading on Tuesday. Barron’s has reached out to all of the involved parties for comment.

The arrangement would create a new U.S. entity to operate TikTok, with U.S. investors holding about an 80% stake and Chinese shareholders owning the rest, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The new company would have a mostly American board, with one member designated by the U.S. government.

The people added that current U.S. users would be asked to shift to a new app, which TikTok has built and is testing. When it comes to the algorithm that drives TikTok, the Journal reports that TikTok engineers would re-create a set of content-recommendation algorithms, using tech licensed from ByteDance.

Write to Angela Palumbo at angela.palumbo@dowjones.com