Once again, the future of TikTok in the US is at stake. After a years-long tussle over whether or not to ban the app in the country, the deadline for the company to divest or sell its assets to a non-Chinese owner is up again on 5 April.

A handful of potential buyers have said they’re interested in the tremendously popular social media app and various news reports have floated other types of deals, including an investment from the Donald Trump-friendly venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz or a bid from Amazon. Trump signed an executive order in January to postpone a ban-or-divest deadline until April; earlier this week he said he would “like to see TikTok remain alive”. But the path forward for TikTok, and its 170 million US users, remains murky.

ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, has said it has no plans to sell the app and in court filings said that divestiture “is simply not possible: not commercially, not technologically, not legally”. ByteDance and TikTok did not return requests for comment.

The idea of banning TikTok originated with Trump in 2020, who said the Chinese-owned app posed a danger to national security. It quickly became a bipartisan issue and Congress overwhelmingly voted to ban the app last year. In January, the US supreme court sided with Congress and unanimously upheld a federal law requiring TikTok divest or be banned. The deadline was initially set for 19 January.

The night before the deadline, TikTok shuttered the app with a message that read: “Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now.” Apple and Google also removed it from their app stores, because under the federal law they would be penalized for distributing it. In its message, the social media company said: “We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned!”

On 20 January, Trump’s first day in office, he issued the executive order that extended the ban-or-divest deadline by 75 days. Now that cutoff date is looming.

While initially proposing to ban TikTok, Trump made an about-face last year while campaigning for president, having joined the app and amassed millions of followers. In September, he posted to his Truth Social account “FOR ALL THOSE THAT WANT TO SAVE TIK TOK IN AMERICA, VOTE TRUMP!” Since then, he’s been working to make good on that pledge.

On Tuesday, CBS reported that Trump has been considering final proposals for TikTok. Those include plans from a long list of investors in the private equity, venture capital and tech industries. Among those investors are asset manager Blackstone, business software company Oracle, e-commerce giant Amazon, a crypto foundation and the founder of OnlyFans. Oracle is reportedly leading a coalition bid with several investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, according to the FT.

Oracle, which was co-founded by Trump ally Larry Ellison, has been looking to buy a lucrative stake in TikTok for years. The software company already houses all of TikTok’s US user data on its cloud infrastructure platform, a deal that came about in 2022 to address security concerns.

“It is highly unlikely that TikTok will go dark again. All signs point to a deal or another extension,” said Kelsey Chickering, a principal analyst for Forrester. “If TikTok divests in the US, the real question is whether its algorithm comes with the sale. TikTok without its algorithm is like Harry Potter without his wand – it’s simply not as powerful.”