Matt Novak, Gizmodo:

President Donald Trump announced Friday that he will sign another executive order to allow TikTok to continue to operate in the U.S. for 75 days while a deal to sell the social media platform is negotiated.

Announced on “Truth” Social, where all legal proclamations are made, despite Trump not actually having the legal authority to extend the ban unilaterally, and especially via an executive order.

Or, as Mike Masnick headlines his Techdirt story, “Who Knew You Could Press A Snooze Button On The Law?” From that piece:

If you’re the President of the United States and you don’t like a law, you can apparently just… decide not to enforce it for a while? I mean, it’s not supposed to work that way, but for the past 74 days, that’s exactly what’s happened with the TikTok ban. Not just ignoring it quietly – Trump has explicitly declared we’re ignoring it. And today, he announced we’ll keep ignoring it for another 75 days.

In their story headlined “The White House had a TikTok deal. Trump’s China tariff wrecked it,” The Washington Post wryly notes:

Executive orders cannot overturn laws, and some lawmakers and legal critics have argued that Trump’s measure is insufficient to halt the law’s enforcement.

What’s striking about this second extension is that the ban was necessary for national security, but apparently not so necessary that a delay of another 75 days isn’t a national security concern, which makes exactly the kind of sense that doesn’t.

This second extension also leaves service providers like Apple, Google, and Oracle on shaky ground—facing fines of as much as $850 billion each for violating the plain language of the law—but they’ve received assurances that as long as they follow instructions, no one will get hurt, reports Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman:

Apple Inc., following assurances from the Trump administration, is keeping TikTok and other apps from ByteDance Ltd. on its US App Store for at least another 75 days.

The iPhone maker on Saturday received a letter from Attorney General Pam Bondi telling the company it should follow President Donald Trump’s executive order that will extend the pause on a TikTok ban in the US, according to people with knowledge of the matter. An Apple spokesperson declined to comment.

These ruinous fines dangle like a financial Sword of Damocles over Apple, Oracle, and Google, held back only by the thin, orange hair of Mafia Don’s good graces. Does anyone doubt he’s using it as a way of keeping them in line?