The Senate Intelligence Democrat said that Trump’s delay is against the law
How should we handle the delay of the Clean Clean Trade Agreement? A Policy Report on the case of Trump’s TikTok Adversarial App
Legal experts found it questionable that Trump signed an executive order on the first day of his presidency to delay enforcement of the law. He failed to announce a deal before April 5th, because of the chaos over new tariffs. Letting the delay expire would have put US companies that serviced TikTok after the deadline at even greater risk of hefty penalties.
Until we hear more about any potential deal that actually could be used to delay the law as it’s written, it’s probably a good idea to keep your TikTok app updated just in case its listings disappear again.
is a senior policy reporter at The Verge, covering the intersection of Silicon Valley and Capitol Hill. She covered tech policy for CNBC for 5 years and wrote about antitrust, privacy, and moderation reform.
Despite several publicly announced bids to buy TikTok, its Chinese owner, ByteDance, has shown no inclination to sell or reduce its stake in the company as required by the law passed last year. After the delay was announced, ByteDance commented publicly on the deal talks for the first time, without specifying what “key matters” needed to be resolved before a potential solution could be reached.
The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversarial Controlled Applications (PICA) Act: Why Do We Need to Leave the App Store? A Complaint from Democratic Rep. Brett Guthrie
The Attorney General and Department of Justice were not told to take action to enforce the Act or impose any penalties for noncompliance. After the Supreme Court did not delay it and with the risk of billions of dollars in fines, the app took over a month to return to the US app stores.
In a separate statement, three Republican members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, including Chair Brett Guthrie (R-KY) struck a similar note, saying that, “any deal must finally end China’s ability to surveil and potentially manipulate the American people through this app.”
Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chair Mark Warner (D-VA) was more critical in a phone interview with The Verge. Warner said that the whole thing is a sham if Beijing doesn’t leave the algorithm in their hands. Will they find their voice now that 80% of Republicans know this was a national security threat?
The original Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act was passed with overwhelming bipartisan support to address what lawmakers insisted was a pressing national security threat, then upheld by the Supreme Court in January. Many lawmakers have doubts about the defense that TikTok has used, that the Chinese government cannot access US user data or the scales of the recommendation feed.
Ro Khanna is a member of the China Committee who is opposed to the law and wants to see it repealed, but also is seeking a solution that will not harm free expression and creators. He called Trump’s delay a good step.
The new statements from China Committee and E&C Republicans appear to be the first coordinated moves to put a firm line in the sand on the topic. Some Republicans that support the law have urged Trump to compliance in some statements or writings. Moolenaar previously warned in an op-ed that an adequate deal must fully break ties with ByteDance after reports that Trump was considering a deal with Oracle that would potentially leave some ties intact. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) told reporters earlier this week that if a deal doesn’t comply with the statute, he “would advise the President against it.” Trump may have to enforce the statute and ban TikTok if he isn’t able to sell the company in a way that complies. This middle way, I don’t think is viable.”
Earlier this week, when it seemed as though TikTok’s fate in the US would actually be decided by April 5th, everyone — from Amazon to the founder of OnlyFans — was coming out of the woodwork to buy it.
Many of ByteDance’s biggest investors were about to roll their stakes into a new, US entity, and people with knowledge of the matter told me that the White House was only seriously considering an Oracle-led consortium for the app.
His friend Larry Ellison was going to secure more business for Oracle by reviving the broad strokes of the Project Texas security proposal that was made to the previous administration (albeit this time with fewer security guarantees, since this administration doesn’t really care about national security threats the app may or may not pose). TikTok was going to have some certainty about the fate of the app. ByteDance was going to remain in the driver’s seat and keep control of its algorithm. And Trump was going to get to say that he saved TikTok.
That is awkward! Less than two weeks after she appeared as the main character in a glossy magazine story about Google’s efforts to beat ChatGPT, Gemini product chief is out (though, in classic Google fashion, apparently finding a role in the company elsewhere). The leader of the Gemini app team is also the leader of the Labs org. Hsiao’s reign has been controversial, since it has been seen that Woodward is generally well-liked inside of the company. The pressure is on.
