Trump administration grants 15-day extension on TikTok divesture deadline

The Trump administration has granted a 15-day extension to its order calling for Beijing-owned ByteDance to divest the popular video-sharing app TikTok. 

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) granted the extension on Friday, pushing the new deadline to Nov. 27, lawyers representing TikTok said in a court filing. The divestment order was set to take effect Thursday at midnight before the extension. 

The development comes days after TikTok filed a petition asking the court to extend the deadline by 30 days, arguing it was necessary since the company had yet to hear a final decision about a proposed deal President Trump tentatively approved in September. 

The proposal would establish a U.S.-headquartered TikTok Global with partial U.S.-based owners, Oracle and Walmart. 

Trump signed an executive order in August calling for ByteDance to sell the app to an American company or have the app banned in the U.S. 

The executive order targeting TikTok alleged the company posed a threat to national security. TikTok has denied such allegations. 

The executive order calling for ByteDance to divest TikTok is just one way the administration has clamped down on the company. The administration is also trying to ban the app from being downloaded from U.S. app stores. 

The order has been temporarily blocked by a federal judge. The Department of Commerce said it would comply with the judge’s order but continue to defend the executive order. 

A spokesperson for TikTok was not immediately available for comment.