Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) blasted President Trump over what the Democrat described as a plot to plant political influence on the TikTok platform.
Trump granted the app’s parent company, ByteDance, a 75 day extension from Saturday’s divest or ban deadline. Several companies, such as Amazon, Oracle and Blackstone, have expressed interest in purchasing the app ahead of the deadline.
"This is 100 percent illegal. Trump seems to be biding time to work out a deal where one of his political allies takes over TikTok and turns it into a MAGA propaganda machine,” Murphy wrote in a Saturday post on the social platform X.
Some have criticized the business community's embrace of President Trump, including leaders such as Amazon's Jeff Bezos and Oracle's Larry Ellison, since the 2024 presidential election
“Rumors are that China will stay in partial control,” Murphy, an outspoken Trump critic, added in his Saturday post about the extension.
The Hill reached out to the White House for comment.
Earlier in the week Trump administration officials touted that a signed deal was expected to be announced ahead of April 5. But, Chinese discontent with Trump's widespread tariffs, which included a 34 percent levy on the country, hampered the chartered course of action.
“We hope to continue working in Good Faith with China, who I understand are not very happy about our Reciprocal Tariffs (Necessary for Fair and Balanced Trade between China and the U.S.A.!),” the president added. “This proves that Tariffs are the most powerful Economic tool, and very important to our National Security! We do not want TikTok to ‘go dark.’”
Chinese officials have said Trump’s new trade measures violate the World Trade Organization's regulations and have urged him to retract steep taxes.
“We have a situation with TikTok where China will probably say we’ll approve a deal but will you do something on the tariffs. The tariffs give us great power to negotiate. They always have. I’ve used them very well in the first administration. Now we’re taking it to a whole new level,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One Thursday.
Last week, the president teased a potential decision to grant a “little reduction in tariffs or something” in exchange for a signed deal regarding the video platform.
Other companies that have expressed interest in acquiring TikTok include Perplexity AI, Microsoft and several other U.S.-based companies.
