It’s D-Day for TikTok in the U.S. once again, with President Trump’s latest executive order that holds off enforcement of the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act,” which went into effect on January 19th 2025, expiring on January 23rd.
At that time, according to the act, TikTok will have to cease operating in the U.S., unless “a qualified divestiture is executed before the date” upon which the law goes into effect.
So TikTok has to be divested by tomorrow, or it’ll “go dark,” and reports indicate that this will happen in time.
Though they’re cutting it fine.
According to Semafor, U.S. and Chinese negotiators have now agreed to a deal to sell TikTok to a consortium of U.S. investors, led by Oracle, which will be the main operator of a new “TikTok US.”
As reported by TechCrunch:
“According to a memo viewed by TechCrunch, the investor group consists of Oracle, private equity firm Silver Lake, and investment firm MGX. Collectively, they will hold 45% of the U.S. operation, with ByteDance keeping nearly a 20% stake.”
The new TikTok entity, to be called “TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC,” will operate a separate version of the app in the U.S., that will run on TikTok’s existing algorithmic framework, but will require U.S. users to download a new app.
Which, presumably, will also see this entity entered into ByteDance’s TikTok org-chart:
But as you can see, it’s not there yet, while the updated U.S. version of the app is not available in the App Store, but, reportedly, the deal is now at the stage where it meets the requirements of the law, which will enable American TikTok users to keep using the app after the deadline passes.
It is worth noting, however, that the deal is yet to be officially confirmed by TikTok, parent company ByteDance or the Chinese government.
Take that as you will.
So, it seems like TikTok will actually be sold, and the long-running TikTok U.S. saga will be finalized, likely within hours, though we’re still waiting for the final word, with time running out.
I mean, if the sale doesn’t get finalized, I would assume that President Trump would just issue another executive order to extend its timeline once more, but either way, right now, with a day left, TikTok could still be banned in the U.S.
It seems unlikely, and it seems like the deal info will come out any second. But the threat still looms right at this time.
On another front, TikTok has also had a win in Canada, with a federal court ruling that the Canadian government’s attempts to force the company out of the local market due to national security concerns are not valid.
In November 2024, the Canadian government issued an order for TikTok to dissolve its Canadian business, citing national security risks. At the time, then Canadian Innovation Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said that the order was based on “national security risks” focusing specifically on the operations “conducted in Canada by TikTok at their offices.”
Canadian authorities offered no further clarification, but basically, there were concerns that something happening in the local TikTok buildings was cause for concern.
To be clear, the order does not relate to the app being available in the region, TikTok would still be accessible in Canada either way, but the ruling would have forced TikTok’s local business to shut down, and cease operations in the nation.
Which would have impacted hundreds of local TikTok employees, but now, they can rest easy, with the court siding with TikTok in opposing the ban.
Possibly also worthy of note is that the Canadian government also signed a new bilateral agreement with China this week.
So while concerns remain about the app, and the threat of foreign surveillance and manipulation remains significant, based on various cybersecurity advisories, TikTok remains active and available in most regions.
Is that a good thing? Well, it is for creators, and for the many millions of people who scroll through the app every day. But in terms of foreign interference, it seems like there’s still some element of concern there, which may never come to anything, or may become a much bigger deal, likely in retrospect.
