As promised by US President Donald Trump, the ban on TikTok and all ByteDance-owned apps has been delayed by 75 days as of January 20 (US Time).
With the delayed US ban, ByteDance now has until April 5 to sell or divest its stake in TikTok to a US-based company.
The new executive order instructs the Attorney General and Department of Justice to not implement the ban on TikTok in the US to “pursue a resolution that protects national security while saving a platform (TikTok) used by 170 million Americans.”
One of Trump’s proposal for this is a joint venture between ByteDance and the US government, where the latter would have a 50% stake in TikTok. While it’s not clear how will Trump’s proposal work, but those living in the US are relieved to have access to TikTok for the next two and a half months–until ByteDance has found a US-based company where it can divest its stake.
Aside from rumors of Elon Musk being in talks to buy off TikTok’s US operations, other interested personalities include “Shark Tank” investor Kevin O’Leary, YouTuber MrBeast, Project Liberty’s Frank McCourt, video-sharing platform Rumble, Former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, and Amazon.