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TikTok deal deadline not extended, but talks expected to continue, according to report

  • The Trump administration had compelled ByteDance to sell TikTok US to American owners by Dec. 4
  • Deal still needs nod from Beijing if approved by Washington

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FILE - The TikTok app logo appears in Tokyo on Sept. 28, 2020. The social media app shared its list of top 100 videos, creators and trends in America in 2020. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato, File)
Jodi Xu Kleinin New York
The Trump administration decided not to grant Chinese tech firm ByteDance a new extension to sell the US assets of its video-sharing app TikTok’s by midnight on Friday, but talks about the sale are expected to continue beyond the deadline, Reuters reported, citing two sources familiar with the situation.

ByteDance has been in talks for months to finalize a deal with Walmart and Oracle to shift TikTok’s US assets into a new entity under pressure from the US government.

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order in August to force the sale of the popular Chinese app, which has more than 100 million American users, claiming the platform’s Chinese owner could be forced to hand over a massive amount of US user data to Beijing and, therefore, poses a national security threat. TikTok denies the allegations.

The deadline for the sale was November 12. The administration had since extended the deadline twice, by 15 days and seven days, respectively, to December 4.

06:02

Global expansion of TikTok and other Chinese tech companies is likely, only not in the West

Global expansion of TikTok and other Chinese tech companies is likely, only not in the West

TikTok did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment, nor did the US justice or treasury departments.

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