TikTok ban in the US could be delayed until October

Three Democratic senators yesterday (March 24) called on the White House to seek authorization from Congress to extend the deadline for ByteDance - TikTok's Chinese parent company, to sell the platform to protect the popular video-sharing app from the risk of being banned.

US senators are urging President Donald Trump to support a congressional plan to extend the sale of popular video platform TikTok.

President Donald Trump in January unilaterally extended the sale deadline from January 19 to April 5 by delaying the implementation of a law passed last year that required ByteDance to sell a majority stake to American owners or face a ban in the United States.

Mr Trump said last month he could extend the deadline to give himself more time to push for a deal.

"Failure to enforce the TikTok ban is not only illegal, it raises serious questions about TikTok's future. The path to saving TikTok must go through Congress," Senators Ed Markey, Chris Van Hollen and Cory Booker wrote, urging the president to support a bill extending the deadline to October 2025.

Last week, sources said that talks on TikTok led by the White House were slowly forming a plan in which ByteDance’s largest non-Chinese investors would increase their stakes and buy TikTok’s U.S. operations. The plan included spinning off a U.S. entity for TikTok and reducing Chinese ownership to avoid a U.S. ban.

The fate of the app, which is used by 170 million Americans, has been uncertain in recent months.

“We urge the President to stand up for TikTok users and use his enormous influence with Republicans in Congress to demand a permanent solution to the TikTok ban,” the senators wrote.

The bill, which would ban TikTok or ByteDance from divestment, passed last year with strong bipartisan support, reflects concerns in Washington that Beijing could use the app to conduct influence campaigns against the United States.

The app was briefly down, then came back online shortly after President Donald Trump's inauguration.

Sources said in January that the Trump administration was working on a plan that would involve working with software giant Oracle and some of ByteDance's existing investors to take control of the app's operations.

Democratic senators said they wanted Mr Trump to clarify whether he planned to extend the deadline and, if so, on what legal basis.

They also want to know if news reports are accurate that the White House is “looking at a potential deal with Oracle that would see Oracle take a stake in TikTok” and provide security for TikTok user data.

Earlier this month, Mr. Trump said his administration was in discussions with four unnamed groups about a potential deal involving TikTok.

Source: https://www.baogiaothong.vn/lenh-cam-tiktok-tai-my-co-the-lui-lai-den-thang-10-192250325123012485.htm