US administration pulls back TikTok ban order in relief to ByteDance
The Trump administration pulled back from its threat to ban the viral videosharing app TikTok in the US, as the dispute winds its way through the court system and a proposed sale hangs in limbo.
For months, the app’s Chinese owner, ByteDance Ltd, has faced the prospect of a US ban starting Thursday. But US judges have blocked those prohibitions from going into effect. The US commerce department said that it would comply with those court rulings for the time being, even as the government appeals.
The TikTok prohibition “has been enjoined, and will not go into effect, pending further legal developments,” the department said in a document published in the federal register.
Separately, ByteDance has challenged an order from the US treasury department to sell TikTok or face unspecified penalties. The US Court of Appeals in Washington on Thursday gave ByteDance and the Trump administration December 14 and December 28 deadlines to file documents in the case.
When it filed the petition, TikTok said the government had not responded to its latest efforts to strike a compromise and prevent an enforced sale. It’s not clear if anything has developed since to extend the deadline, but the court order didn’t allude to any new arrangement.
ByteDance had sought US approval for a deal to sell a stake in the app to Oracle Corp. and Walmart Inc. before the November 12 deadline. However, the agreement appears to be in limbo.
Before filing its petition in Washington this week, ByteDance requested a 30-day extension from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US, or Cfius, that is overseen by the treasury department, to keep working toward a solution. That request went unanswered, according to court papers.
As of midnight Thursday, the administration hadn’t issued a statement about whether it was granting the extension.
Lawyers for TikTok and officials at the treasury department didn’t respond to requests for comment.
US President Donald Trump has made the battle over TikTok a central front in his broader efforts to crack down on the influence of China’s technology industry in the US.