Overview
- Sen. Ed Markey sent a letter Monday accusing the White House of unlawful extensions to the TikTok divestment timeline and demanding detailed disclosures on the proposed sale.
- A Sept. 25 executive order declared a planned sale framework satisfied the 2024 law, granted 120 days to close, delayed enforcement of the ban until Jan. 20, and placed operation of a retrained, monitored algorithm under a new joint venture.
- Markey questioned whether Beijing has actually approved the transaction and sought clarity on whether any algorithm license would be a one-time transfer or require renewals, including how future code changes would apply.
- Reporting describes a framework to spin off TikTok U.S. to an American-led consortium with ByteDance holding under 20% ownership, though the deal has not closed.
- House China committee chair John Moolenaar previously warned that an algorithm licensing model would raise serious concerns, and the White House did not immediately comment on Markey’s letter.