TikTok gets 15-day extension as US sale deadline is pushed to November 27
TikTok has been given a 15-day extension, until November 27, to reach a deal to sell its US operations.
In a court filing on Friday the lawyer for ByteDance, which owns the popular video sharing app, said the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS) had extended the deadline for a sale.
In August, US President Donald Trump ordered ByteDance to sell TikTok's US business to an American owner.
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TikTok is seeking US government approval to sell a minority stake to Oracle and Walmart, hoping that will address the White House's national security concerns. Washington believes data from the app's users can be obtained by Beijing, an allegation the company has denied.
ByteDance requested a 30-day extension last week and said the government hadn't responded to its efforts to reach a compromise and avoid a forced sale.
On Thursday, the previous deadline, a federal appeals court in Washington granted an extension for TikTok and the US government to submit additional documents.
The Thursday deadline was linked to a broader set of restrictions that would have banned American service providers from doing business with TikTok.
The Commerce Department said late on Thursday that it was not going to enforce on the ban, citing pending litigation.
TikTok has been caught in the middle of the rising US-China tech tensions since this summer. Shortly after Trump's executive order in August, the Commerce Department proposed bans to take effect in two stages, blocking US downloads of the app and banning American firms from doing business with the company.
At least four lawsuits are attempting to overturn these bans.
Federal Judge Carl Nichols in Washington blocked the phase one restriction in September that would have stopped new downloads. In late October, Judge Wendy Beetlestone in Philadelphia prohibited the second-stage ban in a separate case filed by three TikTok users.
TikTok also filed a suit in mid-October asking Nichols to stop the phase two ban that was set to take effect on Thursday. On Tuesday, the company filed yet another lawsuit asking for a review of Trump's forced-sale order after the administration became non-responsive to the company following the presidential election.
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
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