More from TikTok ban: all the news on the app’s shutdown and return in the US
During an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press, President Donald Trump said he’d “be willing” to extend TikTok’s June 19th deadline if its China-based parent company, ByteDance, doesn’t reach a deal to divest the app’s US business in time. China backed out of a potential deal last month after Trump imposed up to 145 percent tariffs on goods imported from the country.
[bloomberg.com]
That’s according to Semafor’s White House correspondent Shelby Talcott. The TikTok turmoil is just going to go on forever, huh?
Attorney General Pam Bondi sent Apple a letter “telling the company it should follow President Donald Trump’s executive order” extending ByteDance’s deadline to sell TikTok by 75 more days, reports Bloomberg. The outlet had reported a similar letter sent to both Google and Apple prior to their decision to restore the app to their online marketplaces in February, too.
Akamai delivers content for TikTok, and the company says in an SEC filing spotted by Matt Schettenhelm that, despite President Trump’s order refusing to enforce the TikTok ban, it could be exposed to liability, including things like “significant fines” and “financial loss and other similar harms by continuing to provide services to the Chinese application.”
[ir.akamai.com]
The Vice President, along with National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, has been tasked with “quarterbacking a deal to save TikTok” before President Trump’s enforcement pause deadline arrives in April, according to Punchbowl News.
The Wall Street Journal backs that up, saying Trump gave Vance the job, counting on his (reportedly unimpressive) venture capitalist background to get the deal done.
[punchbowl.news]
It’s no surprise that you can’t find it on Google TV or Apple’s tvOS after the federal TikTok ban, but Axios found that TV makers LG, Amazon, and Vizio also stopped offering the app for download.
It’s understandable. After all, who wants to risk hundreds of billions in fines to offer a social video app designed for smartphone screens?
The President signed an executive order today to create the fund “within the next year,” and told reporters that the US could use it to purchase TikTok, according to Reuters.
Trump has previously suggested the US could own 50 percent of the app in a “joint venture.”
The app was briefly banned because its current publisher is owned by ByteDance, but it’s back online and has returned to app stores. According to developer Second Dinner in a post on X:
To ensure this never happens again, and with the help of our current publisher Nuverse (Thank you!), we’ve already signed agreements and started the work to bring almost all operational and publishing responsibilities in-house at Second Dinner with support from a new U.S.-based publisher, Skystone Games.
Now listed as self-published by developer Second Dinner instead of ByteDance-owned Nuverse, the card battler has escaped the TikTok ban and is back for iPhone / iPad players, even though the Google Play listing still doesn’t work.
It was only gone for about a week, but now iOS players can download Marvel Snap to new devices and install updates again. TikTok’s fate remains undetermined.
[App Store]
The President was asked about the talks, which NPR reported yesterday afternoon also involve Microsoft, during a flight to Florida Saturday. His response, according to Reuters:
“No, not with Oracle. Numerous people are talking to me, very substantial people, about buying it and I will make that decision probably over the next 30 days. Congress has given 90 days.”
