On his first day back in office, President Donald Trump issued an executive order that extends the ban on TikTok, which briefly went dark in the U.S. last week. But the legal logistics of the order remain uncertain, as has much regarding TikTok’s future.
Trump issued an executive order on Jan. 20 to extend the ban on TikTok, implemented by former President Joe Biden last year. The order granted a 75-day extension, which Trump said will allow him to consult with his advisors and heads of “relevant” departments and agencies to address national security concerns posed by TikTok.
Ben Sperry, senior scholar at the International Center for Law & Economics, said the executive order falls into a “gray area.” Under federal law, it remains illegal for U.S. companies, like internet hosting services and app stores, to maintain, distribute and update TikTok, as the platform remains owned by Chinese company ByteDance. However, Trump’s order invites companies to “break” this law, under the impression they will not face repercussions, Sperry said.
Here’s what to know about Trump’s 75-day extension and how it affects users.
Under the executive order, Trump ordered the U.S. Attorney General to not enforce the ban, starting by writing letters to providers who have been supporting TikTok informing them that they will not face repercussions.
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Under the federal legislation, which remains in place despite Trump’s order, companies could be fined $5,000 per users they help access TikTok. For Google and Apple, this could mean a $5,000 fine for each user who downloads or updates TikTok. For internet hosting services like Oracle, it could mean a $5,000 fine for each user that accesses TikTok using their services.
More:Donald Trump issues executive order to halt TikTok ban – but is it legal?
To break that down, if reportedly 170 million Americans use TikTok and companies could be charged $5,000 per user, that amounts to about $850 billion in fines, spread across different types of tech companies.
Even for tech giants like Google, Apple and Oracle, these are “hefty fines” they could be facing, Sperry said.
“The unfortunate timing of section 2(a) of the Act (which implemented when the ban would take affect) − one day before I took office as the 47th President of the United States − interferes with my ability to assess the national security and foreign policy implications of the the Act’s prohibitions before they take effect,” Trump wrote in his executive order.
Trump supported a TikTok ban during his first administration, citing national security concerns. But more recently, Trump has been vocal about wanting to “save” the platform.
On Sunday, Trump said he was in talks with multiple people over buying TikTok and there would likely be a decision on a sale in the next 30 days, according to Reuters. Last week, Trump expressed support in either SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk or Oracle CEO Larry Ellison purchasing the platform. But the president told reporters aboard Air Force One that he had not been in talks with Ellison about a purchase.
More:TikTok’s fate remains unclear. Here’s who wants to purchase the social media platform
Trump’s team did not immediately respond for comment about the executive order when contacted by USA TODAY on Monday.
The extension ends on April 5, 75 days from when Trump enacted it on Jan. 20.
In short, Trump and his administration are taking advantage of “prosecutorial discretion,” Sperry said. Prosecutorial discretion is the power of the government to decide how to apply a law to a person, or in this case, companies.
“You could, and I’m sure the defenders of the executive order would say this, argue that they’re just using their prosecutorial discretion here to do what’s in the public interest,” Sperry said.
TikTok has remained unavailable to download from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store since the platform went dark on Jan. 18. Google nor Apple immediately responded when contacted by USA TODAY on Monday.
In spring 2024, Biden signed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. The legislation gave ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese parent company, until Jan. 19, 2025 to divest TikTok. For years, some government officials have feared that TikTok is a national security threat, concerned that ByteDance is sharing U.S. user data with the Chinese government. TikTok has repeatedly denied these claims.
ByteDance failed to divest the platform by the deadline and on Jan. 18, TikTok went dark in the U.S. The platform was wiped from the Apple App and Google Play stores and became unusable on mobile devices and internet browsers.
However, a little more than 12 hours after it became unavailable, TikTok was restored for U.S. users, after President Donald Trump promised that companies who distribute the platform would not face repercussions under the legislation.
Greta Cross is a national trending reporter at USA TODAY. Follow her on X and Instagram @gretalcross. Story idea? Email her at gcross@usatoday.com.
