For a fourth time, President Trump has pushed back enforcing a bipartisan law that would effectively ban TikTok over the video-sharing app's failure to cut ties with ByteDance, its China-based parent company.
The president signed an executive order Tuesday extending the pause on enforcing the law until at least Dec. 16.
The move comes on the heels of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's announcement Monday that U.S. and Chinese negotiators had agreed to "a framework" to resolve a dispute over TikTok's ownership. Mr. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are planning to speak Friday "to firm everything up," as Mr. Trump put it Tuesday morning.
The law, which was upheld by the Supreme Court, took effect a day before Mr. Trump's inauguration in January. Mr. Trump, however, has issued new orders every few months directing the Justice Department not to take action or impose penalties against companies like Apple and Google for failure to remove the widely popular app from their platforms.
Under the law, ByteDance must divest from TikTok or lose access to U.S. app stores and web-hosting services.
Members of Congress and national security officials have for years warned that TikTok could serve as a vehicle for China to spy on Americans, collect vast amounts of their data or serve them propaganda. During his first term, Mr. Trump tried unsuccessfully to ban the app, citing the potential security risks.
In his second term, Mr. Trump has praised TikTok for helping him win the support of young voters and dismissed concerns about the app as "highly overrated." The White House recently launched its own TikTok account.
Mr. Trump has said for months that a deal to sell TikTok is on the verge, but the details of an official agreement, which would be subject to approval from the Chinese government, have yet to be made public.
"We have American buyers," Mr. Trump told reporters last month, adding that he had yet to speak with Xi about a sale.
Mr. Trump also teased a deal in late June, telling Fox News in an interview that a group of wealthy individuals had agreed to buy TikTok and he would be sharing more in the coming weeks. Mr. Trump said he thought Xi "will probably do it."
Discussions with China about a potential sale were happening "at the highest level," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on June 30.
In late July, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in an interview on CNBC that the "deal is over to them right now," referring to China, and warned that TikTok "is going to go dark" if it's not approved.
"We made the decision. We can't have Chinese control and have something on 100 million American phones," he said.
Lutnick said China or ByteDance "can have a little piece" but "Americans will have control" of the algorithm and "own the technology."
TikTok was a topic of conversation during Bessent's trade talks on Monday with Chinese officials in Spain. When asked by reporters later in the day whether China would have a stake in the company, Mr. Trump said, "We haven't decided that."
An apparent deal in April fell through after Mr. Trump announced new tariffs on China. The deal would have spun TikTok's operations in the U.S. into a new company that was owned and operated by a majority of American investors, a source familiar with the plans said at the time.
Sources with knowledge of the negotiations told CBS News this week that the latest deal includes technology company Oracle and private equity firm Silver Lake. (David Ellison, the son of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, is the chairman and CEO of Paramount Skydance, which is the parent company of CBS. The Ellison family owns a controlling interest in Paramount Skydance.)
The Chinese Embassy in Washington responded on Tuesday morning that China will "firmly defend its national interests, the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies, and will carry out technology export approvals according to relevant laws and regulations."
The statement added that the Chinese government "also fully respects the will of enterprises and supports them in conducting business negotiations on an equal footing in accordance with market principles."
Lawmakers have said that any deal that does not divest TikTok from ByteDance runs afoul of the law, including any arrangement that allows TikTok to continue operating in the U.S. while using ByteDance's algorithm.
During arguments before the Supreme Court, TikTok's lawyer said the app "would be a fundamentally different platform" if it was forced to completely cut ties with ByteDance because the new owner would have to rebuild the algorithm, which would take years. In legal filings, TikTok said the inability to share any data with ByteDance would mean that the app's 170 million American users would not be able to access global content and vice versa.
The president signed an executive order Tuesday extending the pause on enforcing the law until at least Dec. 16.
The move comes on the heels of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's announcement Monday that U.S. and Chinese negotiators had agreed to "a framework" to resolve a dispute over TikTok's ownership. Mr. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are planning to speak Friday "to firm everything up," as Mr. Trump put it Tuesday morning.
The law, which was upheld by the Supreme Court, took effect a day before Mr. Trump's inauguration in January. Mr. Trump, however, has issued new orders every few months directing the Justice Department not to take action or impose penalties against companies like Apple and Google for failure to remove the widely popular app from their platforms.
Under the law, ByteDance must divest from TikTok or lose access to U.S. app stores and web-hosting services.
Members of Congress and national security officials have for years warned that TikTok could serve as a vehicle for China to spy on Americans, collect vast amounts of their data or serve them propaganda. During his first term, Mr. Trump tried unsuccessfully to ban the app, citing the potential security risks.
In his second term, Mr. Trump has praised TikTok for helping him win the support of young voters and dismissed concerns about the app as "highly overrated." The White House recently launched its own TikTok account.
Mr. Trump has said for months that a deal to sell TikTok is on the verge, but the details of an official agreement, which would be subject to approval from the Chinese government, have yet to be made public.
"We have American buyers," Mr. Trump told reporters last month, adding that he had yet to speak with Xi about a sale.
Mr. Trump also teased a deal in late June, telling Fox News in an interview that a group of wealthy individuals had agreed to buy TikTok and he would be sharing more in the coming weeks. Mr. Trump said he thought Xi "will probably do it."
Discussions with China about a potential sale were happening "at the highest level," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on June 30.
In late July, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in an interview on CNBC that the "deal is over to them right now," referring to China, and warned that TikTok "is going to go dark" if it's not approved.
"We made the decision. We can't have Chinese control and have something on 100 million American phones," he said.
Lutnick said China or ByteDance "can have a little piece" but "Americans will have control" of the algorithm and "own the technology."
TikTok was a topic of conversation during Bessent's trade talks on Monday with Chinese officials in Spain. When asked by reporters later in the day whether China would have a stake in the company, Mr. Trump said, "We haven't decided that."
An apparent deal in April fell through after Mr. Trump announced new tariffs on China. The deal would have spun TikTok's operations in the U.S. into a new company that was owned and operated by a majority of American investors, a source familiar with the plans said at the time.
Sources with knowledge of the negotiations told CBS News this week that the latest deal includes technology company Oracle and private equity firm Silver Lake. (David Ellison, the son of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, is the chairman and CEO of Paramount Skydance, which is the parent company of CBS. The Ellison family owns a controlling interest in Paramount Skydance.)
The Chinese Embassy in Washington responded on Tuesday morning that China will "firmly defend its national interests, the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies, and will carry out technology export approvals according to relevant laws and regulations."
The statement added that the Chinese government "also fully respects the will of enterprises and supports them in conducting business negotiations on an equal footing in accordance with market principles."
Lawmakers have said that any deal that does not divest TikTok from ByteDance runs afoul of the law, including any arrangement that allows TikTok to continue operating in the U.S. while using ByteDance's algorithm.
During arguments before the Supreme Court, TikTok's lawyer said the app "would be a fundamentally different platform" if it was forced to completely cut ties with ByteDance because the new owner would have to rebuild the algorithm, which would take years. In legal filings, TikTok said the inability to share any data with ByteDance would mean that the app's 170 million American users would not be able to access global content and vice versa.
