The clock has run out on the time given to TikTok to sell to a U.S. company, but it looks like the app will not be banned after all.
The final deadline for the sale of TikTok was supposed to be on Friday, December 11. This deadline had been pushed back multiple times, but it has now passed without a sale of the company. No deal has been reached yet, despite interest from Microsoft and reports of a deal in the works with Oracle, as well as the unusual interest of Walmart in partnering to buy the company.
Even though yesterday was supposed to be the final deadline, there will still not be a sale of the company, according to Bloomberg, and discussions over the app’s fate will continue.
The reason given for the forcing of the sale of the app was that there were security concerns about its use. As it is owned by a Chinese company, there were concerns that the Chinese government could force the company to hand over data about its users. TikTok does collect considerable amounts of data about its users, although this is also true of other apps like Facebook or Twitter.
Some argued that the danger to national security was still too great considering the Chinese government’s power over Chinese companies. But others said that the U.S. government’s actions were more for show than a serious attempt to protect data and privacy.
Now, as reported by Reuters, the U.S. government decided not to grant an extension of the order which would have forced Chinese company ByteDance to sell off TikTok to an American company. However, the government will not seek to ban the app either. Sources told Reuters that talks will continue over what will happen to the app in the future. This means it is possible that the issue of a sale or ban will come up again in the future. However, it seems that the government has lost interest in pursuing action against TikTok.
For now, the app will continue to be available and users should be able to continue using it as before. A number of court cases regarding the ban are still in progress, but it is looking increasingly unlikely that these will lead to any dramatic outcome which affects users.
