The Trump administration has once again extended the deadline for ByteDance to sell video sharing platform TikTok’s business in the US, Reuters reported. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) has given China-based ByteDance until December 4th to either sell or spin out its US business, according to a court filing. CFIUS reportedly granted the extension “to allow time to review a revised submission” that it recently received.
President Trump said in August that TikTok and its parent company were a national security risk to the US, and issued the initial order requiring TikTok to sell its US business. Trump’s order would have blocked all US transactions with ByteDance.
In September, the US Commerce Department issued an order to block downloads of TikTok in the US. The president then said he had approved “in concept” a deal with Oracle and Walmart that called for creating a new US-based entity, TikTok Global.
That deal has yet to receive final approval, however, and TikTok said earlier this month it had received “no substantive feedback” from the Trump administration for some time. The government then issued a notice November 13th that set the new deadline for the deal for November 27th.
However, the government is still bound by an injunction issued by a federal court in Pennsylvania on October 30th. The Commerce Department issued an unpublished rule saying the agency is complying with the terms of that judge’s ruling. Its prohibition of TikTok transactions “has been enjoined and will not go into effect, pending further legal developments.”
TikTok did not immediately reply to a request for comment Saturday.
