TikTok Ban Deadline Lapses as US Government Talks Continue

ByteDance’s deadline to divest itself of social media app TikTok has elapsed, but talks are set to continue with the U.S. government about a sale without another deadline extension, according to reports.

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Last month, ByteDance was granted a seven-day extension on an order from the Trump administration to sell the short-form video sharing platform.

The deadline passed on December 5, but the Trump administration opted not to grant a new extension of an order requiring the Chinese company to divest TikTok’s U.S. assets. However, talks will continue over the app’s fate, reports Reuters.

A Treasury Department representative said late on Friday the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) “is engaging with ByteDance to complete the divestment and other steps necessary to resolve the national security risks.”

Trump was said to have personally made the decision not to approve any additional extensions at a meeting of senior U.S. officials, according to a person briefed on the meeting. The government had previously issued a 15-day and seven-day extension of the initial 90-day deadline, which was Nov. 12, in Trump’s order.

ByteDance remains in protracted talks with Walmart and Oracle on a deal that would divest it of the social media app and create a new U.S.-based company called TikTok Global.

In September, a federal judge granted TikTok a preliminary injunction that temporarily halted an order from the Trump Administration that would have banned new downloads of the app in the United States because of the perceived risks posed by their data collection practices and Chinese ownership.

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