Summary
- President Trump issued an order delaying TikTok ban enforcement.
- The app will remain available in the U.S. until at least Dec 16, 2025.
- The delay allows time for negotiations for U.S. control of TikTok.
- Trump plans a deal with China to transfer TikTok's U.S. operations.
The injunction postpones until December 16 the implementation of the statute that would prohibit the application in the United States.
In response to national security concerns raised by Chinese ownership of a platform that more than 170 million Americans daily use, Trump initially signed an order ostensibly waiving implementation of the rule, which had been passed by Congress and signed by then-President Joe Biden.
The most recent prolongation coincides with the agreement reached by American and Chinese negotiators to transfer ownership of TikTok's American operations to a U.S. consortium that would allegedly hold 80 percent of a new business that would run the app.
The Wall Street Journal claims that TikTok users would switch to a new app that was developed using a different version of the Chinese-made recommendation algorithm. This was the reason why the app was banned in the US.
The two parties have "reached a basic consensus on resolving the TikTok issue," according to Wang Jingtao, deputy director of China's top internet regulator, who spoke to the media in Madrid.
Negotiators had reached an agreement on "entrusting the operations of U.S. user data and content security business," he added, and Beijing had consented to "licensing the use of TikTok's algorithm and other intellectual property rights."
Before departing the White House on Tuesday for a state visit to the United Kingdom, Trump also told reporters that an agreement had been struck.
On Friday, he said he would call Chinese leader Xi Jinping "to confirm everything up."
“We made a very good trade deal, and I hope good for both countries, but a very different deal than they've made in the past. We'll be announcing that we have a group of very big companies that want to buy it,”
he said.
What would a U.S. takeover of TikTok require legally?
To align with the provisions of the 2024 Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA), TikTok must be sold off to a non-Chinese owner, or face a ban from the UnitedStates.
For a TikTok divestiture to comply with the law, ByteDance must either fully divest ownership of TikTok or maintain only 20% indirect or direct ownership in a manner that allows for U.S. control over either TikTok’s data infrastructure or algorithms or both TikTok’s data infrastructure and algorithms.
The divestiture must ensure that TikTok is no longer subject to operational control by a Chinese entity. The U.S. owner must maintain control over TikTok's algorithm and data infrastructure such that user data is protected and cannot be accessed by the government of China.