Democratic senator presses Trump on TikTok divestiture plan
Ed Markey questions Trump’s executive order to sell ByteDance-owned TikTok to US investors, demanding clarity on algorithm control and security
A Democratic senator on Monday asked US President Donald Trump to answer key details about a plan by TikTok’s Chinese owners to sell a majority stake in the short video app’s US assets.
Trump signed an executive order on September 25 declaring that a plan to sell TikTok’s US operations to a consortium of US and global investors meets the national security requirements set out in a 2024 law and gave them 120 days to complete the transaction.
In doing so, he delayed enforcement of the law banning the app used by 170 million Americans until January 20.
Senator Ed Markey, from Massachusetts, said the White House has not answered numerous questions and has not followed the 2024 law.
“Your repeated unlawful extensions of the divestment deadline and vague comments about the deal raise significant questions about whether you have been able to secure an agreement that keeps TikTok online and addresses the national security concerns posed by ByteDance’s ownership of TikTok,” Markey said in a letter to Trump on Monday.
“Congress and the American people need to understand the terms and status of this supposed agreement.”