The president said there’s ‘a lot of interest’ in buying TikTok, and that Beijing will ‘play a role’ in any potential deal.
President Donald Trump on Thursday said he will “probably” extend the April 5 deadline if a deal isn’t reached in time for China’s ByteDance to divest from its California-based subsidiary TikTok.
Speaking to reporters in Washington, Trump said, “probably, yeah,” when asked whether he would extend the deadline.
“And China is going to play a role,” he said, “and so hopefully China will approve of the deal, but they’re going to play a role.”
The president said there is “a lot of interest” in TikTok, and an extension may not be necessary.
TikTok, a video sharing platform, uses a powerful algorithm to recommend videos and create personalized content feeds.
Security experts, politicians, and government agencies have long warned that the Chinese communist regime can access the vast amount of data collected by TikTok and use the app’s algorithm to shape U.S. culture and public opinion.
A ban on TikTok in the United States took effect briefly on Jan. 19 as it failed to be separated from its parent company, ByteDance, which is subject to the control of the Chinese regime, a foreign adversary of the United States.
The app, which has around 170 million American users and 2 billion users worldwide, went dark in the United States for several hours, before Trump promised an extension of the Jan. 19 deadline.
Trump gave TikTok another 75 days to separate from ByteDance or be banned again.
Bidders of the video app include YouTube star MrBeast and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. Trump has also floated other potential buyers including X owner Elon Musk and Oracle founder Larry Ellison.
Any deal to buy TikTok would have to be approved by the Chinese regime.
After Trump tried to ban TikTok or to force a divestiture during his first term in 2020, Beijing updated its export restrictions to include technologies that affect ByteDance’s algorithm, including artificial intelligence interactive interface technology and personalized information-pushing services based on data analysis.
Beijing’s commerce and foreign ministries previously said any divestment from TikTok has to be done according to “China’s laws and regulations.”
One of the bidders of TikTok, Wyoming-based wealth manager Reid Rasner, recently told The Epoch Times that TikTok’s algorithm is key in any deal with the video app.
“Without the algorithm, TikTok doesn’t exist, and it won’t ever be the same. We need the algorithm. We need a clean break from ByteDance and China,” he told The Epoch Times in a Feb. 25 interview.
“Without the algorithm,” he said, “you can’t replicate what they’ve done,” and another Chinese company could take it and create a new app that poses the same threats to U.S. national security and user safety.
Rasner described TikTok in its current state as “a true national security threat,” and said he will introduce features to keep children safe and will respect user data and freedom of speech if his acquisition attempt is successful.
Jackson Richman contributed to this report.