Trump issues ominous five-word update on USA's impending TikTok ban
Trump drops a five-word update on TikTok's future in the US.
After months of legal battles and political manoeuvring, the fate of the platform used by 170 million Americans remains in limbo.
Recently, President Trump announced he's been working on an agreement with China to keep TikTok running in America.
"We've got a TikTok deal in the works. I hammered something out with China, and I'm chatting with President Xi this Friday to lock it all down," Trump told reporters while heading out for his UK state visit.
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ByteDance has been facing mounting pressure to either sell off its US operations or face getting shut down entirely.
Just recently, the Trump administration extended the 17 September deadline to mid-December.
This is actually the fourth time Trump has delayed the deadline that originally gave ByteDance until January 2025 to either sell the app or shut it down in America.
But Trump's mixed signals about TikTok's future don't offer much optimism for the app to stay.
"We may let it die," Trump said.
He told reporters: "I may or may not, we're negotiating TikTok right now. We may let it die, or we may, I don't know, it depends, up to China. It doesn't matter too much. I'd like to do it for the kids."
The legal framework remains complex. The Supreme Court has upheld the law requiring action, which technically took effect the day before Trump's January inauguration. Despite this, Trump has continued directing the Justice Department to refrain from penalising companies like Apple and Google for maintaining the app on their platforms.
Under the law, ByteDance must either divest from TikTok or lose access to US app stores and web hosting services entirely.
For years, lawmakers and national security experts have warned that TikTok could be used by China to spy on Americans, collect their personal information, or influence them with propaganda.
Back in July, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick warned that TikTok 'is going to go dark' if it's not approved. "We've made our position crystal clear. We simply can't allow Chinese oversight of something that's sitting on 100 million American devices," Lutnick explained.
According to CBS News, the latest deal for TikTok includes technology company Oracle and private equity firm Silver Lake. Meanwhile, the Chinese Embassy in Washington explained that China would 'firmly defend its national interests, the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies, and will carry out technology export approvals according to relevant laws and regulations.'