'Very Putin-esque': Trump slammed for his newest TikTok action

President Donald Trump once again paused a congressionally authorized ban on TikTok to give his administration more time to find a buyer for the social media platform.

The president announced Thursday morning that he was unilaterally directing his Justice Department not to enforce the bipartisan law banning the Chinese-owned app until it found an American buyer, but Trump has repeatedly delayed enforcement of the law signed by Joe Biden.

"I’ve just signed the Executive Order extending the Deadline for the TikTok closing for 90 days (September 17, 2025)," Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. "Thank you for your attention to this matter!"

Trump has extended the deadline three times, starting on his first day in office and again in April, and the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the ban as constitutional

"[The saga] is starting to feel less like a ticking clock and more like a looped ringtone," Jeremy Goldman, analyst at Emarketer, told the Associated Press. "This political Groundhog Day is starting to resemble the debt ceiling drama: a recurring threat with no real resolution.”

So far the president's orders have not faced any legal challenges, but some say that they should.

"Trump has delayed the ban so his administration can weigh in on negotiations about a potential sale of the app — perhaps, to one or some of the right-wingers who’ve shown an interest in buying it," wrote MSNBC columnist Ja'han Jones. "It’s a very Putin-esque way of doing business."

"But unlike the president’s other authoritarian actions, his refusal to impose the ban on TikTok — a misinformation-filled platform that Trump has openly touted for aiding his political ambitions — hasn’t been treated like the transgressive approach to executive power that it fundamentally is," Jones added.