The Status of TikTok: On a State-Dependent Solution to the 2016 Black-Bang Sales-Or-Ban Deal

One influential Democrat believes that President Donald Trump and his delay to the TikTok sale-or-ban deadline is against the law.

If there is a deal that can be used to delay the law as is written, it would be beneficial to keep your TikTok app updated.

The senior editor is following news in tech, culture, policy and entertainment. He began his career as a news writer for Engadget and joined The Verge in 2021.

Despite several publicly announced bids to buy TikTok, its Chinese owner, ByteDance, has shown no inclination to sell or reduce its stake in the company as required by the law passed last year. After the delay was announced, ByteDance commented publicly on the deal talks for the first time, without specifying what “key matters” needed to be resolved before a potential solution could be reached.

An executive order was signed by Trump instructing the Attorney General and Department of Justice not to take any action to enforce or impose any penalties for noncompliance with the Act. But with the law still on the books after the Supreme Court declined to delay it and with the risk of billions of dollars in penalties, the app took nearly a month to return to US app stores before they were apparently satisfied by the AG’s assurances.

In a separate statement, three Republican members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, including Chair Brett Guthrie (R-KY) struck a similar note, saying that, “any deal must finally end China’s ability to surveil and potentially manipulate the American people through this app.”

Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chair Mark Warner (D-VA) was more critical in a phone interview with The Verge. The whole thing is a sham if Beijing doesn’t remove the algorithm from their hands. Will Republican’s find their voice now that close to 80 percent of them knew this was a national security threat?

The original Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act was passed with overwhelming bipartisan support to address what lawmakers insisted was a pressing national security threat, then upheld by the Supreme Court in January. TikTok has long denied that the Chinese government could access US user data or put its thumb on the scales of the recommendation feed through ByteDance, but many lawmakers have consistently doubted that defense.

The China Committee, a member of which Ro Khanna is a member, has criticized the law and wants to see a solution go through Congress, although he wants a full repeal of the law. He said that Trump’s delay was a good step.

The China Committee and E&C Republicans issued new statements that appear to be the first in a series of moves to put a firm line in the sand. Some Republicans who support the law had called for Trump to comply in one-off statements. Moolenaar warned in an op-ed, that an adequate deal must break ties with ByteDance, after reports suggesting that Trump was considering a deal withOracle that would leave some ties intact. Josh Hawley said earlier in the week that if a deal doesn’t comply with the statute, he would advise the President against it. He thinks that Trump would try to ban the company if he can’t sell it in a way that complies. This middle way is not viable, I think.

Earlier this week, when it seemed as though TikTok’s fate in the US would actually be decided by April 5th, everyone — from Amazon to the founder of OnlyFans — was coming out of the woodwork to buy it.

The White House was only seriously considering anOracle-led Consortium which included many of ByteDance’s biggest investors, according to people familiar with the matter.

Larry Ellison wanted to use the Project Texas proposal to win more business for his company because the administration doesn’t really care about national security threats the app may or may not pose. There would be some certainty about the app’s fate for investors and employees. ByteDance was going to effectively stay in the driver’s seat while maintaining control of its algorithm. And Trump was going to get to say that he saved TikTok.

Well, that’s awkward! Less than two weeks after she appeared as the main character in a glossy magazine story about Google’s efforts to beat ChatGPT, Gemini product chief is out (though, in classic Google fashion, apparently finding a role in the company elsewhere). The Gemini app team’s new leader is, who also leads the Labs org behind the breakout hit that has been NotebookLM. It’s not often that Hsiao takes over and is controversial, but that is what happened with Woodward, the app needs to surpass the service this year. The pressure is on.