The US government on Wednesday granted Chinese tech company ByteDance a seven-day extension of an order to sell US operations of its flagship video-sharing platform, according to a court filing.
The Trump administration has been attempting to ban TikTok for some months now, citing security concerns over the potential for ByteDance to pass user information to the Chinese government.
An initial executive order directing ByteDance to divest the app within 90 days was issued on 14 August. ByteDance was also recently issued a 15-day extension that was set to expire on 27 November. The newest extension will expire on 4 December.
In September, it appeared that ByteDance was set to sell TikTok to US-based Oracle Corp and Walmart Inc, though the companies seemed to offer different explanations of the deal. The Committee on Foreign Investment, a panel led by the Treasury Department, did not ultimately sign off on the sale.
A US Treasury spokesperson said that the extension was granted to allow time for a “revised submission” to be reviewed by the Committee.
TikTok remains one of the fastest-growing social media platforms in the world. To date, it has been downloaded more than 100 million times in the US.
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ByteDance has filed a number of legal challenges against the ban, with deadlines in certain proceedings set to arrive after January. Several judges have blocked the ban from taking effect, and it is not yet clear what penalty will be issued to ByteDance should it fail to comply with the order.
In the aftermath of the US presidential election, the executive order banning TikTok may lapse once President-elect Joe Biden takes office in January, unless he chooses to enforce the previous administration’s order in court.
