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US Gives ByteDance 15-Day Extension of 12 November Deadline, Treasury Department Confirms

TikTok, owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, was facing a deadline on Thursday to comply with the United States’ order to sell its US operations or be shut down, although the ruling did not go into effect on time.
Sputnik

The US Committee on Foreign Investment has granted a 15-day extension of the deadline for China's ByteDance to sell its TikTok video-sharing app, the US Department of Treasury confirmed on Friday.

"Consistent with the Order, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) has granted ByteDance a 15-day extension of the original 12 November 2020 deadline", the Treasury said in a statement.  "This extension will provide the parties and the Committee additional time to resolve this case in a manner that complies with the Order".

The Trump administration has sought to ban new downloads of the app until ByteDance reaches an agreement of a sale to a US company, though the ban was blocked by a federal judge just before it was supposed to take effect. So far, ByteDance has been negotiating a potential sale deal with the tech company Oracle and retail giant Walmart.

Earlier this week, TikTok filed a petition with the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia concerning Trump's administration order directing ByteDance to divest the app within 90 days.

Trump has long threatened to ban TikTok in the United States, citing security concerns. According to the White House, China is allegedly using the app as an instrument to obtain data from American users.

TikTok has over 100 million American users and 1,500 US employees.

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