The top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee said on Monday that US President Donald Trump’s decision to extend a deadline for China-based ByteDance to divest short video app TikTok’s US assets violates the law.
Senator Mark Warner also said the reported likely deal under consideration would not meet legal requirements for eliminating ByteDance’s influence over TikTok’s US operations under a 2024 law.
The reported deal “would preserve a material, operational role for ByteDance by not only allowing it to retain a significant equity stake in the divested entity, but also an active role in technology development and maintenance”, he said.
Trump on Friday said he extended by 75 days a deadline for ByteDance to sell US assets of the popular short video app to a non-Chinese buyer, or face a ban that was supposed to have taken effect in January under a 2024 law.
The White House and TikTok did not immediately comment on Monday.
The deal would spin off TikTok’s US operations into a new company based in the US and majority-owned and operated by US investors. The plan entails spinning off a US entity for TikTok and diluting Chinese ownership, sources have said.
“Any qualified divestiture must ensure a clean operational break from ByteDance and TikTok USA, including by preventing either company from continuing to develop, influence, or access personal data or source code,” Warner said.
Warner said the “deal being discussed undermines confidence that the divested app can be trusted to protect national security and ensure compliance with the law”.
Trump has said his administration was in touch with four different groups about a prospective TikTok deal.
A major stumbling block to any deal for TikTok’s US business is Chinese government approval. China has not publicly agreed to support a sale and Trump’s comments on Friday suggested renewed Chinese opposition.
Some lawmakers have said Trump must enforce the law, which had required TikTok to stop operating by January 19 unless ByteDance had completed a divestiture of the app’s US assets. Trump began his second term as president on January 20 and opted not to enforce it.
The Justice Department in January told Apple and Google that it would not enforce the law, which led them to restore the app for new downloads. South China Morning Post