TikTok divest-or-ban law signed

April 24, 2024

President Joe Biden signed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, enacted as Division H of H.R. 815, an emergency supplemental appropriations act that became Public Law 118-50. The law gives ByteDance 270 days to divest TikTok’s U.S. operations or face a nationwide prohibition from U.S. app stores and hosting services.

Key provisions

• Requires the President to designate foreign adversary-controlled applications that pose national security risks.
• Orders divestment of TikTok’s U.S. assets from ByteDance unless the company wins an extension by demonstrating substantial progress toward a sale.
• Authorizes enforcement through app store and web hosting bans should divestment fail.

Political and legal reactions

• TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said the company would challenge the law in court, arguing it violates the First Amendment rights of creators and users.
• Lawmakers who backed the package framed the measure as necessary to prevent Chinese government influence over Americans’ data and content feeds.
• Digital rights and civil liberties groups warned the law could set a precedent for banning social media platforms and urged Congress to pursue broader data privacy legislation instead.

Subsequent developments

• TikTok and a group of creators challenged the law. On January 17, 2025, the Supreme Court issued a per curiam opinion in TikTok Inc. v. Garland holding that the Act’s application to TikTok did not violate the First Amendment.
• TikTok briefly suspended U.S. service around the statutory deadline before President Trump signed an executive order on January 20, 2025 directing 75 days of non-enforcement, a delay extended by further executive orders through 2025. Rather than a divestiture taking effect as the statute specified, the matter was ultimately resolved through a U.S. joint venture structured as a “qualified divestiture” under a later executive order, with ByteDance retaining a minority stake.