Barring a last-minute deal to sell popular short-form video app TikTok to U.S. owners, the app was scheduled to go dark starting today, Saturday, April 5th. A law signed by former President Joe Biden last April gave TikTok’s owner, Chinese company ByteDance, until January 19th to divest the app or have it banned in the U.S. But an executive order signed by President Donald Trump on his second Inauguration Day made TikTok hands-off to the DOJ for 75 days. The executive order protected the app until April 5th.
The U.S. wants to remove the U.S. operations of TikTok from the control of China’s ByteDance. There are fears that the Chinese Communist Party will demand the personal information used by U.S. TikTok users to open and sign in to their accounts. There are also concerns that China uses the app to indoctrinate the app’s young U.S. audience with propaganda.
These were the reasons given by President Trump late in his first term to try and force ByteDance to sell TikTok to U.S. investors. But time ran out as the 2020 election started to take up more of the president’s time. During his second term, President Trump loves TikTok because he feels that it helped him win the youth vote in last year’s election. But Trump still wants the app to end up controlled by U.S. investors or companies.
President Trump announces his 75 day extension for the sale of TikTok. | Imagecredit-Truth Social
Another report stated that a deal was in place that would have resulted in American ownership of a majority of TikTok’s operations The deal would have put the majority of the app in the hands of American investors while ByteDance would have kept a minority stake. However, the deal was reportedly scuttled by Beijing after President Trump raised tariffs on U.S. imports from China by 54%.
The good news for U.S. TikTok fans is that they have another 75 days at the least to enjoy the app and there is a good chance that the extra days will allow the U.S. and China to negotiate the sale of the app.
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