In August 2022, according to the lawsuit, CFIUS stopped engaging in meaningful discussions about the agreement and in March 2023 CFIUS “insisted that ByteDance would be required to divest the US TikTok business”. CFIUS is an interagency committee, chaired by the US Treasury Department, that reviews foreign investments in American businesses and real estate that implicate national security concerns.
Biden could extend the Jan 19 deadline by three months if he determines ByteDance is making progress.
In 2020, then-President Donald Trump was blocked by the courts in his bid to ban TikTok and Chinese-owned WeChat, a unit of Tencent, in the United States. Trump, the Republican candidate challenging Democratic President Joe Biden in the Nov 5 US election, has since reversed course, saying he does not support a ban but that security concerns need to be addressed.
