in effect
This is Executive Order 14166, signed January 20, 2025, and published in the Federal Register (90 FR 8611). It directs the U.S. Attorney General to hold off on enforcing a federal law — the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act — as it applies to TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance.
The underlying Act, which bans app stores and hosting services from distributing, maintaining, or updating TikTok, took effect on January 19, 2025. This order tells the Attorney General not to enforce that Act for 75 days from January 20, 2025, and bars the Department of Justice from imposing any penalties during that window. It also shields conduct that already happened — no liability for anything companies did between the Act’s effective date (January 19, 2025) and the signing of this order, even after the 75 days end. The Attorney General is directed to put out written guidance, send each provider a letter confirming there has been no violation and no liability, and defend the position that only the federal executive (not states or private parties) may enforce the Act. The stated reason is to give the administration time to review the national security concerns and negotiate a resolution rather than trigger an abrupt shutdown.
TikTok and ByteDance, plus the app stores and internet hosting companies that carry or support the app, are directly affected — they are told they face no enforcement or penalties during this period. The order also cites TikTok’s roughly 170 million U.S. users as the reason for avoiding a sudden shutdown. It further asserts that states and private parties cannot enforce the Act, so any such attempts would be treated as overstepping the executive branch’s authority.