For a third time in less than a year, a deadline is approaching that might cause TikTok to cease working in the US.
According to a statement from White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, however, President Trump plans on giving the social media platform another extension.
“President Trump will sign an additional Executive Order this week to keep TikTok up and running,” she said.
"President Trump does not want TikTok to go dark. This extension will last 90 days, which the Administration will spend working to 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," Ms Leavitt added.
The US Congress passed a law with bipartisan support last year that ordered ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, to divest from the platform over concerns that American user data was being accessed by Beijing, or face a ban. Legislators set an original deadline of January 19.
President Donald Trump has previously pushed back the deadline twice, and he said in May that he might give the China-owned video-sharing social platform another extension, but it's not clear if that will happen.
TikTok's troubles are not new, but because the controversy surrounding the social platform has been around for so long, it's easy to forget how it ended up in this predicament.
For several years, as TikTok's popularity and influence grew, so did the concerns about its policies, which many technology analysts have found could leave user data vulnerable to being compromised by the Chinese government.
Though ByteDance and TikTok repeatedly denied accusations that data could be vulnerable, US legislators were sceptical, leading to the passage of the law ordering the app's distancing from Beijing.
After the US Supreme Court dismissed a legal challenge from ByteDance that claimed the law was unconstitutional, TikTok seemed to be at death's door.
On January 18, with ByteDance refusing to sell off TikTok, the company opted to let the platform go dark in the US for almost an entire day before newly sworn-in Mr Trump decided to give it an extension to try and work out a deal.
\Although brief, the blackout proved to be a major incident. Testimony in Meta's antitrust trial showed that TikTok's blackout caused a surge of internet traffic to Instagram.
On April 5, when time had almost run out on his initial extension, Mr Trump again decided to give ByteDance more time.
Entrepreneurs, corporations and tech tycoons have expressed interest in buying TikTok from ByteDance, but the company has refused to divest.
TikTok has also shown no sign of diminishing its presence in the US. The company's careers site lists more than 40 open positions in the public policy, privacy compliance and federal government affairs departments.
Chief executive Shou Zi Chew attended Mr Trump's inauguration and the platform has encouraged users to lobby the President directly. TikTok has also engaged in an intense campaign in the US capital.
The company's survival despite mounting odds is probably frustrating to other US-based technology companies, especially with Google and Meta currently involved in lengthy and costly antitrust battles that could mean the end of their technology dominance.
"It’s a different issue," said Shweta Singh, a professor of information systems and management at the University of Warwick. "TikTok’s debate centres on national security and foreign influence, not market monopoly."
Ms Singh also said that Mr Trump's affinity for rolling with the changing political tides instead of emphasising ideological purity gives TikTok reason for continued optimism.
"This time President Trump is balancing national security concerns with the reality that TikTok is hugely popular with his voter base," she said, noting that although Mr Trump first floated the idea of banning TikTok during his first term, he changed while trying to win back the White House in 2024.
“For all those who want to save TikTok in America, vote Trump,” he said in a post on his Truth Social platform while on the campaign trail.
Ms Singh added that throughout Mr Trump's campaign, he was able to reach millions more potential voters through TikTok.
"Its algorithm is hyper-addictive, drives unpredictable viral trends, and is accused of shaping public opinion in opaque ways," she said.
With the possibility of another extension and as controversies surrounding user data privacy get further away in the rear view mirror, the likelihood that TikTok survives is increasing.
According to Pew Research data released in March, support for the TikTok ban now hovers about 34 per cent, down significantly from 50 per cent when the poll was first taken in 2023.
Although it seems to be slowly but surely winning in the court of public opinion, TikTok's repeat brushes with a blackout are less than ideal for a social media platform that hosts high-earning influencers and businesses.
In a letter to Mr Trump in March, Democratic senators Ed Markey, Chris Van Hollen and Cory Booker pushed him to avoid short-term extensions in favour of a plan that would endorse legislation that would provide users and TikTok with a clear path forward.
"Without any further action from Congress, the 170 million Americans that rely on TikTok will continue to face uncertainty about TikTok’s future," they wrote.
"Creators will continue to fear that the platform could disappear at any moment, and this situation is unfair and unworkable."
Yet for ByteDance, another short-term extension of the deadline beats the idea of no extension at all, which would have meant another blackout of indeterminate length.
TikTok did not respond to The National's requests for comment on this story.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
Price, base / as tested: Dh182,178
Engine: 3.7-litre V6
Power: 350hp @ 7,400rpm
Torque: 374Nm @ 5,200rpm
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 10.5L / 100km
Profile
Company: Libra Project
Based: Masdar City, ADGM, London and Delaware
Launch year: 2017
Size: A team of 12 with six employed full-time
Sector: Renewable energy
Funding: $500,000 in Series A funding from family and friends in 2018. A Series B round looking to raise $1.5m is now live.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Company%20profile
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GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
If you go
The flights
There are direct flights from Dubai to Sofia with FlyDubai (www.flydubai.com) and Wizz Air (www.wizzair.com), from Dh1,164 and Dh822 return including taxes, respectively.
The trip
Plovdiv is 150km from Sofia, with an hourly bus service taking around 2 hours and costing $16 (Dh58). The Rhodopes can be reached from Sofia in between 2-4hours.
The trip was organised by Bulguides (www.bulguides.com), which organises guided trips throughout Bulgaria. Guiding, accommodation, food and transfers from Plovdiv to the mountains and back costs around 170 USD for a four-day, three-night trip.
'Midnights'
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
THE BIO: Martin Van Almsick
Hometown: Cologne, Germany
Family: Wife Hanan Ahmed and their three children, Marrah (23), Tibijan (19), Amon (13)
Favourite dessert: Umm Ali with dark camel milk chocolate flakes
Favourite hobby: Football
Breakfast routine: a tall glass of camel milk
Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
AI traffic lights to ease congestion at seven points to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Street
The seven points are:
Shakhbout bin Sultan Street
Dhafeer Street
Hadbat Al Ghubainah Street (outbound)
Salama bint Butti Street
Al Dhafra Street
Rabdan Street
Umm Yifina Street exit (inbound)
