Anjum Naveed / AP
Originally published on February 11, 2021 6:32 am
Efforts to ban TikTok under then-President Donald Trump were put on ice on Wednesday, as the Department of Justice signaled in a new court filing that the Biden administration is backing off the pressure on the Chinese-owned video-sharing app.
Citing national security concerns, Trump had attempted to force the sale of TikTok, which is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, to an American company. If no deal was reached, Trump said TikTok would be effectively blacklisted in the U.S.
Software company Oracle teamed up with Walmart and tried to hammer out an acquisition deal with ByteDance to take over TikTok s U.S. operations, but a final agreement never materialized. Those discussions now appear to have stalled. Sources close to the talks say ByteDance, which would need to bless any possible sale, was not willing to easily part with its first app to soar to international acclaim.