in effect
This is a presidential Executive Order (EO 14258), signed April 4, 2025, and published in the Federal Register on April 9, 2025. It extends an earlier pause on enforcing the federal law that targets TikTok — the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (Public Law 118-50, Div. H). It directs the Department of Justice not to enforce that law for a set period.
The order pushes the enforcement pause — first set up by Executive Order 14166 on January 20, 2025 — further out, to June 19, 2025. During that window the Department of Justice is told to take no action and impose no penalties against any company for distributing, maintaining, or updating a “foreign adversary controlled application” as defined by the law. It also reaches backward: even after June 19, 2025, DOJ cannot penalize conduct that happened during the pause or before the order, including the stretch from January 19, 2025 to April 4, 2025. The Attorney General is directed to issue written guidance implementing this and to send each provider a letter stating there was no violation and no liability for that period. Finally, it asserts that only the Attorney General may enforce this law, and instructs the AG to defend that exclusive authority against enforcement attempts by states or private parties.
The most direct effect is on TikTok and the companies that help distribute or run it — such as app stores and hosting or service providers — who are told, in writing, that they face no federal penalties for the covered period. The Attorney General and the Department of Justice are tasked with carrying out the order and issuing the guidance and letters. The order also signals to states and private parties that they are not meant to bring their own enforcement of this law; the order states it creates no legal rights anyone can enforce in court.