An orderly presidential transition in the US may be underway at last – not that we’re counting any chickens just yet – but that raises more questions about what’s going to happen with the sale or shutdown of TikTok’s US operations, which would be enforced by the current Trump administration.
There’s news on that front today. ByteDance has been granted yet another extension on its deadline to sell TikTok US or shut it down. That deadline is now 4 December, according to a court filing by TikTok. Reuters, which reported on it, suggested that ByteDance has “made a new proposal aimed at addressing the US government’s concerns” about TikTok’s US affairs.
The existing deadline was tomorrow (27 November), so the week’s extension gives more time for that proposal to be considered. But there remains plenty of speculation about what may now be a ‘lame duck’ administration’s willingness to see through the TikTok sale before the January inauguration.
Plus, of course, it’s still unclear how the incoming Biden administration views this issue, and whether it will halt the sale-or-shutdown process. In July, employees of Joe Biden’s campaign were told to delete TikTok from their work and personal devices as a security precaution, but that’s not necessarily a pointer towards in-office policies.
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