Donald Trump has delayed the TikTok ban by 75 days and people are divided

President Donald Trump has signed an order to delay the TikTok ban for 75 days, which means Americans will be able to continue scrolling until April.

Although Trump initially called for the popular social media platform to be banned back in 2020, he has had a massive change of heart as he ‘got to use’ the app. The reason behind the extension is intended to give ByteDance, its Chinese parent company, enough time to find a suitable buyer. MrBeast is said to be placing an official bid to buy the app.

The ban is linked to privacy concerns for the app’s users. Essentially, by signing the order, Trump has directed the Department of Justice not to enforce the ban for 75 days, or roughly two months, give or take a few days. This will allow TikTok to temporarily continue offering its service of viral dances, cat videos, dating app horror stories, and hacks in the US without reprisal.

The 47th US president dismissed initial privacy concerns, claiming: “TikTok is largely about kids, young kids”.

“If China is going to get information about young kids out of it, to be honest, I think we have bigger problems than that.”

"I hereby order the Attorney General not to take any action on behalf of the United States to enforce the Act for 75 days from the date of this order, to permit my Administration an opportunity to determine the appropriate course of action with respect to TikTok," the White House said in the newly signed order.

"During this period, the Department of Justice shall take no action to enforce the Act or impose any penalties against any entity for any noncompliance with the Act, including for distributing, maintaining, or updating (or enabling the distribution, maintenance, or updating) of any foreign adversary controlled application as defined in the Act."

The US Supreme Court ruled in favour of a law last week that barred US netizens from using TikTok. This came after former president Joe Biden signed a legislation in April last year requiring TikTok to either be sold by its parent company, or face a ban.

TikTok was ultimately banned, albeit for a mere 14 hours on Sunday (19 January) for its 170 million US users, many of whom decided to share their dramatic reactions to the ban, and some even spilled their deepest darkest secrets during the app’s final hours.

News of Trump signing the executive order, which he promised to do ahead of the inauguration, has garnered a mixed reaction on social media.

“Just ban the app,” one X/Twitter user declared. “We don't even want it anymore. If it was a ‘National Security issue’ a couple day ago it's still one now. I am not giving credit to the one who was the first to ban it.”

Another user said: “I’m sorry but considering everything he just messed up, TikTok is the least of our worries”.

However an optimistic commenter said: “This is huge for so many people.”

While someone else shared: “Glad to see progress on this!”

“That’s the only thing I’m happy about,” another person shared.

The 75-day extension will end on 5 April.

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