TikTok says it has received “no substantial feedback” from Trump administration on sale of company

The video platform is asking a court for a review of the Trump Administration’s plan to force the company’s sale to an American company.

November 11, 2020
TikTok says it has received “no substantial feedback” from Trump administration on sale of company Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images  

TikTok has asked the US Court of Appeals to review the orders handed down by the Trump administration’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), according to a report in The Verge. The social media app claims it has received "no substantive feedback" on a request for an extension on a deadline to sell the company,

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President Trump cited national security concerns in September when he decreed that ByteDance, a Chinese company, must fully sell TikTok to a US-based company by November 12 or face major restrictions — that deadline was put on hold in October, and according to a statement obtained by The Verge, TikTok claims that the Trump administration is barely communicating with the company over its November 12 deadline.

TikTok says it applied for a 30-day extension with CFIUS, but hasn't heard back. “For a year, TikTok has actively engaged with CFIUS in good faith to address its national security concerns, even as we disagree with its assessment,” TikTok said in its statement, "In the nearly two months since the President gave his preliminary approval to our proposal to satisfy those concerns, we have offered detailed solutions to finalize that agreement – but have received no substantive feedback on our extensive data privacy and security framework.

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“Facing continual new requests and no clarity on whether our proposed solutions would be accepted," the statement says, "we requested the 30-day extension that is expressly permitted in the August 14 order. Today, with the November 12 CFIUS deadline imminent and without an extension in hand, we have no choice but to file a petition in court to defend our rights and those of our more than 1,500 employees in the US. We remain committed to working with the Administration — as we have all along — to resolve the issues it has raised, but our legal challenge today is a protection to ensure these discussions can take place.”

A deal between Walmart and Oracle to purchase a minority stake in TikTok was in the works in September, though the current status of the transaction is unclear.

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TikTok says it has received “no substantial feedback” from Trump administration on sale of company