in effect
This is a presidential executive order (EO 14352, signed September 25, 2025) that formally declares TikTok’s proposed ownership restructuring to be a legally valid “qualified divestiture” under the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, and directs the Justice Department not to enforce that law for an additional 120 days while the deal is finalized.
A new joint venture based in the United States will take over operation of TikTok’s U.S. app, with ByteDance and its affiliates owning less than 20 percent; the majority will be held by U.S. investors. The deal also covers Lemon8 and CapCut. U.S. user data must be stored in a cloud environment run by an American company, and algorithms must be retrained and continuously monitored by U.S.-designated security partners. The Justice Department is barred from bringing enforcement actions for 120 days from September 25, 2025, and also retroactively waives liability for any conduct back to January 19, 2025 (when the law first took effect). A 2020 divestment order originally requiring ByteDance to sell Musical.ly/TikTok is amended so that its prohibition lifts once the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) signs a compliance agreement with the new investors.
App stores, web hosts, and other platform providers that distribute or support TikTok, Lemon8, and CapCut face no legal penalties during the 120-day window and are explicitly cleared of past liability by written guidance from the Attorney General. The roughly 170 million Americans who use TikTok, along with content creators and businesses that advertise on the platform, are able to continue using the app without interruption while the ownership transfer is completed. State governments and private parties are explicitly blocked from attempting their own enforcement, as the order asserts that enforcement authority belongs solely to the federal executive branch.