President finds proposed TikTok divestiture qualifies, pauses enforcement for 120 days

The President of the United States on Sept. 25, 2025, issued Executive Order 14352, titled "Saving TikTok While Protecting National Security," concluding that a proposed Framework Agreement for the divestiture of TikTokand certain affiliated applications would be a "qualified divestiture" under the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (Public Law 118-50) and ordering a 120-day pause in Department of Justice enforcement of the Act.

The finding hinges on a framework in which TikTok's United States application would be operated by a newly established joint venture based in the United States, with ByteDance Ltd. and its affiliates owning less than 20 percent of that entity. The order says the divestiture would place algorithmic operations, content-moderation decisions, and sensitive U.S. user data under the control of the new joint venture and require that sensitive U.S. user data be stored in a cloud environment run by an American company. The President wrote that the arrangement would also require retraining and monitoring of recommendation models by "trusted security partners."

The order cites Congress's concerns that TikTok is under the control of a foreign adversary and notes prior presidential actions that delayed enforcement of the statute, including Executive Orders 14166, 14258, 14310 and 14350. The President said the interagency process led by the Vice President, with participation from the National Security Council, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Department of the Treasury, the Department of Justice, the Department of Commerce, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, reviewed the proposed divestiture before the determination.

As immediate steps, the order directs the Attorney General to take no action to enforce the Act or impose penalties for 120 days from the order's date; to issue written guidance implementing that direction; and to send letters to appropriate providers stating there was no violation of the Act and no liability for conduct during the 120-day period or any period from the effective date of the Act through issuance of the order. The order further designates the Attorney General or the Attorney General's designee to serve as the United States Government's representative under the Framework Agreement and to receive information from the new joint venture and trusted security partners on behalf of the Government.

The order also revokes the Presidential Memorandum of July 24, 2024 (Delegation of Authority Under the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act) and amends the Order of Aug. 14, 2020 (regarding the acquisition of Musical.ly by ByteDance Ltd.), including authorizing the Attorney General, in consultation with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), to implement measures to verify compliance. The President reserved the authority to issue further orders as necessary to protect national security.

The order states the proposed divestiture would allow "the millions of Americans who enjoy TikTok every day to continue using it while also protecting national security." It identifies the TikTok application as being used by about 170 million Americans and names the Lemon8 and CapCut applications as covered applications in the determination. The order directs the Attorney General to defend the Executive's exclusive authority to enforce the statute against attempted enforcement by states or private parties.

Next steps described in the order include execution of implementation agreements under the Framework Agreement and an agreement between CFIUS and certain investor parties to align investor incentives with compliance. The order does not itself implement the Framework Agreement; it determines that, once implementation agreements are executed consistent with the framework, the divestiture would be a "qualified divestiture."