The Trump administration said Wednesday that it granted an extension to TikTok’s China-based owner ByteDance to satisfy the federal government’s requirements.
Previously, the federal government ordered ByteDance to divest TikTok. Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin leads the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which reviews commercial transactions for potential national security problems and has reviewed potential acquisitions of TikTok from ByteDance.
“The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) has granted ByteDance a one-week extension, from November 27, 2020 to December 4, 2020 to allow time to review a revised submission that the Committee recently received,” said a Treasury Department spokesperson in a statement.
A TikTok spokesperson declined to comment on the extension.
TikTok and some of its users have each challenged the Trump administration’s efforts to crackdown on TikTok in federal courts.
In September, U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols ordered a temporary blockade of the Trump administration’s decision that would prevent TikTok’s distribution via Apple and Google’s app stores. Earlier this month, Judge Nichols heard arguments in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia from lawyers for TikTok and ByteDance and from the Department of Justice.
Separately in October, U.S. District Judge Wendy Beetlestone issued a preliminary injunction against the Trump administration’s restrictions in response to a legal challenge brought by TikTok users in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Late last month, U.S. District Judge Wendy Beetlestone, who was appointed by former President Obama in 2014, separately issued a preliminary injunction against the Trump administration’s restrictions on TikTok set to take effect on Thursday. Judge Beetlestone’s order from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania came in response to a legal challenge from TikTok users.
