TikTok’s parent company ByteDance has filed a petition in the U.S federal appeals court seeking to vacate current US President Trump’s executive order right before the November 12 CFIUS deadline. This petition comes as a new development in a long running battle spanning several months between the Chinese company ByteDance and Trump’s administration.
Back in August, U.S President Donald Trump issued an executive order to ban any transactions with ByteDance over national security concerns. ByteDance could either sell its U.S operations or its U.S operations would halt and its products would face a ban.
The Chinese company contested the order and has denied the national security threat allegations, and filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration in the same month the order was issued. The company was also granted a 30 day extension in August, and after a petition by TikTok users and creators, a federal judge issued an injunction to delay the planned Nov 12 ban on TikTok.
Under pressure and in fear of losing its place in the U.S, in which it has about 100 million monthly active users, ByteDance had come close to making a deal with Oracle and Walmart to sell 20% of its stake. But with the uncertainty created by Joe Biden’s win in the 2020 U.S Presidential Elections, whether or not the deal will proceed as planned is yet to be seen.
The Nov 12 CFIUS deadline requires the Chinese company to “divest any tangible or intangible assets or property, wherever located, used to enable or support ByteDance’s operation of the TikTok application in the United States.”
ByteDance has reportedly been working with the committee on foreign investment in the United States (CFIUS) to address the national security concerns that were raised in Trump’s order. However, the company no longer has any extensions on the deadline, and it has yet to complete its deal with Oracle and Walmart.
ByteDance had requested another extension this month which it did not receive. Although it is not clear what consequences ByteDance would face if the deadline is reached, the company has still filed a petition to protect its assets and employees from any harm the impending deadline might bring.
