TikTok is about to face the deadline for the U.S. ban. Accused of national security, data privacy, and foreign influence concerns, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld this decision of the TikTok ban in the United States. However, after Donald Trump became the president, he passed an exclusive order to postpone the ban on this extremely popular application. However, it’s already March 2025, and the ban deadline is set for April 5, 2025. This has made TikTok's future in the United States uncertain.
The background of the TikTok ban is dated several years back when the U.S. government got concerned over national security and data privacy issues. The main issue was the Chinese ownership of this app, and the U.S. government thought the Chinese Communist Party would be able to access sensitive user data through this app, posing potential risks to national security. As per this, the Supreme Court had given this verdict of the ban of this app.
Notably, President Donald Trump was actively involved in this entire process, and this direct government intervention made things a bit relaxing for TikTok until now. However, as the deadline approaches, it is getting troublesome for the app to survive in the U.S. Whether this app will be banned or keep its existence intact is dependent on ByteDance’s ability to find a suitable American buyer for this application.
Anyway, on March 6, President Donald Trump mentioned that the U.S. government is open to extending the timeline beyond April 5. His statement revealed, “We have a lot of interest in TikTok.” According to the reports, Trump can further extend the postponement up to 90 days if ByteDance is effectively looking to sell the platform to some U.S. company.
As the deadline draws closer, discussions regarding ByteDance and potential U.S. buyers of TikTok have been intensified. Reportedly, multiple companies are interested in purchasing TikTok. Recent news says Oracle, a leading company in the software sector, has emerged as a prominent candidate to take over TikTok's U.S. operations.
As per the sources, Oracle is having discussions with the White House about protecting American TikTok user data and preventing the Chinese government’s access to those. This arrangement is reportedly built upon an existing U.S. data hosting agreement known as Project Texas. However, the new one is named Project Texas 2.0.
Aside from that, several other companies are also interested in TikTok. However, if no agreement is reached by April 5, the ban could take effect. Up to this point, reports reveal that the specifics of enforcement would depend on decisions by Attorney General Pam Bondi.
The next step is still unknown, but at least for now TikTok is at a critical juncture in the United States. The outcome of ongoing negotiations and the assurance of government interventions impact the app’s availability to millions of U.S. users. As the time comes closer, stakeholders, along with the users, require some clarity about the entire process.