TikTok Sale Deadline Passes By As Talks With US Continue

On Friday, December 4, a deadline set by the Trump administration for the forced sale of TikTok’s US assets came and went without a final deal, reported Bloomberg.

While the deadline has been extended multiple times, TikTok isn’t expected to receive a new one, according to Bloomberg. TikTok is still in talks with the US government about a sale that satisfies the administration’s national security concerns, but Friday’s deadline will be allowed to lapse while the discussions continue.

The US Treasury Department told TikTok and Chinese parent company ByteDance that they won’t face a fine or other punishment for missing the deadline because the sides are still negotiating. 

The deal, which has been in the works for months, is close to being finished, and the administration is eager to complete it before President-elect Joe Biden takes office on January 20, according to one of the people.

The fate of TikTok has been caught up for months in President Donald Trump’s crackdown on Chinese technology companies and their influence in the US. The administration has argued that Americans’ private data gathered through the app could be handed over to the authoritarian regime in China, something TikTok has stated it would never do.

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