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President Trump said he’ll sign another executive order to extend TikTok ban pause again

President Donald Trump signs an executive order on TikTok in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP) President Donald Trump signs an executive order on TikTok in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP)

President Donald Trump signs an executive order on TikTok in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP)

Amy Sherman
By Amy Sherman April 4, 2025

President Donald Trump announced April 4, the day before a looming potential TikTok shutdown, that he will sign a second executive order to enact another 75-day pause on a TikTok ban. 

The order means the Trump administration will continue not to enforce the 2024 legislation passed by a bipartisan Congress and signed by President Joe Biden that would eventually ban TikTok unless it is sold to a U.S. company.

"My Administration has been working very hard on a Deal to SAVE TIKTOK, and we have made tremendous progress. The Deal requires more work to ensure all necessary approvals are signed," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "We do not want TikTok to 'go dark.' We look forward to working with TikTok and China to close the Deal."

Trump said he hopes to strike a deal with China, although the country is not happy about reciprocal tariffs which he announced April 2. 

The White House website did not immediately post the executive order.

As the app has gained U.S. popularity, TikTok's potential vulnerability to the Chinese Communist Party has vexed U.S. officials. Most criticism centers on national security risks posed by the app's data collection, which ranges from users' email addresses to messages sent within the app and keystroke patterns. 

In 2023, experts told us that banning TikTok would not eliminate China's access to U.S. social media user data,because similar data from other apps would still be available for purchase through third-party brokers.

ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, is a privately owned company that says 60% of its owners are global investors. Its Chinese cofounders have a 20% ownership share, and its employees own 20%.

Trump told reporters last year, "We love TikTok. I'm going to save TikTok." That was a reversal from his stance in 2020 when he sought a ban on TikTok, citing national security concerns.

Saving TikTok is one of 75 campaign promises he made that PolitiFact is tracking on the MAGA-Meter. Over the next four years, we will periodically evaluate the new administration's progress on Trump's 2024 campaign promises, just as we did with Barack Obama, Trump during his first term and Joe Biden.

We rated Trump's progress as in the Works on Jan. 20, his first day in office, when he signed the first 75-day ban which was set to expire this weekend. His new order leaves this promise at In the Works.

RELATED: Tracking Donald Trump's complete position change on banning TikTok in the US