TikTok will continue operating in the United States for at least three more months after President Donald Trump decided to extend the deadline for its sale or ban for the third time this year. The Chinese-owned video-sharing app was set to be banned after its parent company, ByteDance, failed to meet the January deadline to sell its US operations.

“President Trump will sign an additional Executive Order this week to keep TikTok up and running,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday.

The 90-day extension is aimed at finalising a deal that would allow TikTok to remain in the country under American oversight. “This will ensure this deal is closed so that the American people can continue to use TikTok with the assurance that their data is safe and secure,” Leavitt added.

TikTok and ByteDance did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Speaking earlier to the BBC, Trump said, “We’ll probably have to get China approval. I think we’ll get it. I think President Xi will ultimately approve it.” When asked if he had the legal grounds to extend the deadline, he said, “We do.”

Trump’s decision clashes with a law passed by Congress last year that demanded TikTok be sold or banned. That law, signed by former President Joe Biden, was upheld by the Supreme Court in January, just before Trump returned to office.

The platform briefly went offline for a few hours during the weekend before Trump's inauguration but resumed operations. Afterward, TikTok praised Trump for saving the app.

This is not Trump’s first attempt to force a sale. In 2020, during his first term, he pushed for the platform to be sold to a US company. However, last year, Trump expressed a different view. “I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok, because I won youth by 34 points,” he said in December, despite most young voters supporting Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.

Analysts now question whether a full ban will ever happen. “What ban? There is nothing ‘looming’ about the potential TikTok ban anymore,” said Forrester analyst Kelsey Chickering. “TikTok’s behaviour also indicates they’re confident in their future, as they rolled out new AI video tools at Cannes this week.”

Chickering noted that while competitors like Snap may try to take advantage of the uncertainty, “they will not succeed because this next round for TikTok isn’t uncertain at all.”

In April, the Trump administration said it was close to reaching a deal with China that would give American firms majority control of TikTok’s US operations. But ByteDance said, “There are key matters to be resolved. Any agreement will be subject to approval under Chinese law.”

Trump has shown interest in seeing TikTok sold to Oracle, whose co-founder Larry Ellison is a close ally. Other bidders include billionaire Frank McCourt, Canadian businessman Kevin O’Leary, and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian.

YouTube star Jimmy Donaldson, known as MrBeast, has also joined a separate investor group seeking to buy the platform.