Donald Trump administration extends TikTok ban deadline, provides 15-day reprieve

The Donald Trump administration has granted TikTok a two-week extension on the August 12 order that required the Chinese social media company to divest its operations in the United States before November 12. The 15-days extension to ByteDance-owned TikTok has been granted by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) and will provide the involved parties additional time to resolve the case in compliance with the President's order. 

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Executive order to ban TikTok

President Donald Trump in August had signed an executive order to ban TikTok over alleged national security concerns. The order said that TikTok will be banned in the United States in 45 days from the signing of the order if it fails to sell its operations to American companies. ByteDance entered into talks with several US firms, including Oracle and Walmart, however, a deal is yet to be finalised and prospects remain unclear. The order was expected to take effect from November 12, but the Trump administration decided to extend the deadline to comply with court orders.  

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TikTok had challenged the ban in at least two US courts, one of which ruled in favour of the Chinese social media giant, blocking the ban on October 30. This week, the US authorities said that they would not seek to enforce the ban for another two weeks, providing TikTok additional time to address the government's security concerns. The Trump administration alleges that the personal data of over 100 million TikTok users in the United States is not safe as they can be accessed by the Communist Party in China. However, ByteDance dismisses the accusations saying the data of its users are absolutely safe. 

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Some say that the Trump administration's decision to ban TikTok was part of the broader trade war with China. Washington and Beijing have been involved in a trade war since 2018, imposing tariffs on each other's goods. The Trump administration accuses China of unfair trade practices, theft of intellectual property, among other things. Earlier this year, before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world, the United States and China reached a phase one agreement to settle the dispute. 

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