The Complex Case of TikTok in the United States

In the first couple of weeks in January, at the beginning of a new legislative session, 10 different states banned TikTok from government mobile devices.1 By the end of the legislative calendar, which for most states was the summer, 34 state governments had gotten in on the action.2 Montana went the furthest with a bill banning the app for all Montanans. [...] Journalist Emily Baker-White has uncovered the misconduct by TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance.43 According to a number of people cited in the report, ByteDance admitted to allegations of spying on journalists, although the company asserts it was a result of a mishandled leak investigation.44 Recently it was reported that the Justice Department, the FBI, and the US attorney for the Eastern. [...] These revisions, now called the Berman Amendment, included changes to IEEPA as well as the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917, which gives the president of the United States the power to oversee or restrict trade in times of war. [...] A week after the original TikTok executive order was signed, President Trump issued a divestment order using the power of CFIUS to force the sale of TikTok.52 To help stave off this sale and respond to the executive orders, ByteDance opened a parallel negotiation with US companies to house data with the blessing of the Trump administration.53 As part of this agreement, ByteDance would have created. [...] After the transition to the Biden administration, TikTok, ByteDance, and the executive branch requested that the court hold the case in abeyance while the parties tried to resolve the issue.