Despite announcing that a TikTok-U.S. deal is imminent, the White House still needs a little more time to work out all of the details.
Which is why today, President Donald Trump has signed a fourth executive order to hold off enforcement of the TikTok sell-off bill, which means that TikTok now has until December 16th to arrange a sale to a U.S.-owned entity, or face a full ban in the region.
As per the latest executive order:
“The enforcement delay specified in section 2(a) of Executive Order 14166 of January 20, 2025 (Application of Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act to TikTok), as extended by Executive Order 14258 of April 4, 2025 (Extending the TikTok Enforcement Delay), and Executive Order 14310 of June 19, 2025 (Further Extending the TikTok Enforcement Delay), is further extended until December 16, 2025. During this period, the Department of Justice shall take no action to enforce the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (the “Act”) (Public Law 118-50, Div. H) or impose any penalties against any entity for any noncompliance with the Act, including for distributing, maintaining, or updating (or enabling the distribution, maintenance, or updating of) any foreign adversary controlled application as defined in the Act.”
So, to be clear, TikTok is currently, by law, banned in the U.S., with the president’s repeated issuance of executive orders merely instructing U.S. authorities not to enforce the bill.
But it is in law. The “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act” was approved by the Senate, and signed off on by former President Joe Biden last April, before coming into effect on January 20th this year.
But following his inauguration, and after repeatedly noting his personal affinity for TikTok, after amassing a large following in the app, President Trump then signed the first executive order withholding enforcement of the bill. He’s now signed three more EOs to keep TikTok in operation, as administrators work out a way to both meet the legal requirements of the bill via a sell-off, while also managing terms that both TikTok’s parent company ByteDance, and the Chinese government, will agree to.
Which has proven to be difficult, with Chinese officials looking to exert a level of control over the negotiations, and ensure that the U.S. is not forcing a Chinese-owned entity to meet unfair business practices.
In fact, the TikTok negotiations have become a key part of broader trade talks between Chinese and U.S. officials, as Trump and his team seek to impose more restrictions on China trade, and get more businesses to keep their various operations within America instead.
But now, it looks like a deal is close, though I guess, it doesn’t have to be, with negotiators having another 90 days to work out the details of the sale.
Though you would assume that, at some stage, the Senate will start calling out Trump’s repeated executive orders, and his approach to defying an approved law. If the TikTok sale doesn’t go through in this term, that could become a bigger talking point, but at this stage, it seems like TikTok will be sold to a U.S. entity, and the law will go into effect.
Whether it has the desired effect, however, is another question.
The latest insight into the TikTok negotiations suggest that its U.S. partners will lease TikTok’s algorithm from China, as opposed to buying it as part of the deal, which will keep TikTok operating as normal, but may also fail to address a key concern in managing the app’s influence.
Also worthy of note: As part of the proposed TikTok-U.S. partnership, the U.S. government will end up with a seat on the board of the new TikTok U.S. entity.
It seems that neither of these measures is in alignment with the initial focus of the bill. But then again, that bill was passed 18 months ago, and no one remembers what they were voting on then.
Right?
