Trump signs executive order supporting proposed deal to put TikTok under US ownership

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday that he says will allow TikTok to continue operating in the United States in a way that meets national security concerns.

Trump’s order will enable an American-led of group of investors to buy the app from China’s ByteDance, though the deal is not yet finalized and also requires China’s approval.

Much is still unknown about the actual deal in the works, but Trump said at a White House signing ceremony Thursday that Chinese leader Xi Jinping has agreed to move forward with it.

Vice President JD Vance added that “there was some resistance on the Chinese side, but the fundamental thing that we wanted to accomplish is that we wanted to keep TikTok operating, but we also wanted to make sure that we protected Americans’ data privacy as required by law.”

The Chinese embassy in Washington didn’t immediately respond to an Associated Press inquiry seeking confirmation of China’s approval.

President Joe Biden signed legislation passed by Congress last year that would ban TikTok unless ByteDance sold its US assets to an American company by early this year.

Trump has repeatedly signed orders that have allowed TikTok to keep operating in the US as his administration tries to reach an agreement for the sale of the company.

The executive order itself is a declaration by the president that the proposed deal meets the security concerns laid out in that law. And it gives all negotiating parties an additional 120-day reprieve in order to finalize it.

Young people especially “really wanted this to happen,” Trump said.

Any major change to the popular video platform could have a huge impact on how Americans — particularly young adults and teenagers — consume information online.

About 43% of US adults under the age of 30 say they regularly get news from TikTok, higher than any other social media app including YouTube, Facebook and Instagram, according to a Pew Research Center report published Thursday.

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