President Donald Trump has extended the ban on TikTok five times since January.
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TikTok isn’t going anywhere – yet.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order in September extending a months-long ban on TikTok until Tuesday, Dec. 16, giving his administration time to finalize the sale of the Chinese-owned social media app. However, a few days later, President Trump issued another executive order extending the ban again until January 23, 2026.
Since the start of his second term, President Trump has issued five executive orders related to former President Joe Biden’s 2024 ban on TikTok through the Protecting Americans from Controlled Applications of Foreign Enemies Act.
In recent years, some government officials have expressed concern that TikTok poses a national security threat, believing that TikTok’s Beijing-based parent company ByteDance is sharing U.S. user data with China. TikTok has repeatedly denied these claims.
In January, Biden’s actions caused the platform to go dark in less than 24 hours after ByteDance did not sell it by a set deadline.
Is it possible that TikTok will be banned in the future?
On September 25, President Trump signed an executive order extending TikTok’s ban for 120 days, until January 23, 2026.
That 2026 date is when the presidential administration must strike a deal with ByteDance to sell some of its social media apps, or it could be plunged back into darkness.
agreement is still on the table
In September, President Trump valued TikTok’s U.S. assets at $14 billion, just days after the White House announced a tentative agreement had been reached to keep the short video platform available in the United States.
The agreement will separate TikTok’s U.S. operations into a new joint venture with majority American ownership. Oracle, a US-based technology company, will act as a security provider for TikTok’s US operations. The complete portfolio of ownership is expected to be combined upon closing of the transaction, which is expected in early 2026.
Government officials claimed in October that President Trump had signed a TikTok deal with Chinese President Xi Jinping, but as of Dec. 16, no further details had been released.
Contributors: Joey Garrison and Zac Anderson, USA TODAY
Greta Cross is USA TODAY’s national trends reporter. Story ideas? Email her at gcross@usatoday.com.
