The Trump administration won’t enforce its own deadline for ByteDance to sell or spin out video-sharing platform TikTok’s business in the US, according to Bloomberg.
The latest deadline for that move, given by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) on November 28th, was today, December 4th. An extension isn’t expected, though the current deadline will “be overlooked while the discussions continue” between the Trump administration and TikTok, Bloomberg reports.
CNN tech reporter Brian Fung is corroborating that the US won’t enforce its own deadline, with his sources amusingly suggesting that the lack of a deadline is proof that the US is “highly motivated” to complete talks about the sale.
US officials are “highly motivated” to complete the talks, the person said, and added that the lack of a new, specific deadline is indicative of that.
— Brian Fung (@b_fung) December 5, 2020
The Trump administration has repeatedly argued that TikTok and ByteDance are a national security risk, and the US Commerce Department issued an order to block downloads of TikTok in September. But Trump then said that he approved of a bid by Oracle and Walmart “in concept” to create a new US-based entity called TikTok Global, though it’s not clear how that would address concerns of security risks. That deal also requires final approval from China, which hasn’t come yet, either.
