President Trump has just given ByteDance an extra 75 days to sort out the sale of TikTok’s U.S. operations. Now, the deadline’s pushed back to mid-June, which means we’re dodging an immediate app shutdown. It’s the second time he’s extended the deadline, so it looks like TikTok gets a bit of breathing room for now.
A bunch of big names are keen on snapping it up if it comes to that, like Oracle, AppLovin, and even Amazon. Some investment firms are also throwing their hats in the ring, along with Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, who’s backing a consortium led by Frank McCourt. Interestingly, an AI startup, Perplexity, is considering merging with TikTok’s U.S. side. Quite the mix, right?
This extension is good for brands and businesses that use TikTok to connect with younger crowds. But with all the chatter about ownership changes and tech tensions, we could see new rules that affect costs, how ads are targeted, and how content gets moderated.
Trump’s been linking all this back to his trade strategy with China, saying that tariffs are a powerful economic tool and important for national security. It shows how tangled up tech, international trade, and security are these days.
It’s a wild ride trying to keep up with everything in the digital world!
