President Joe Biden signed a foreign aid package that includes a bill that would ban TikTok if China-based parent company ByteDance fails to divest the app within a year.
The divest-or-ban bill is now law, starting the clock for ByteDance to make its move.
The company initially had nine months to sort out a deal, though the president could extend that another three months if he sees progress.
Even without the extension, the earliest a ban could start is January 2025. With the extension, it would be April.
And with TikTok threatening legal action, the matter could get tied up in the courts for even longer. It’s a shift from an earlier House-passed bill that included a six-month window that could have triggered a TikTok ban before the November election.
