Democratic senator proposes new safeguards to keep TikTok online

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Democratic Senator Ed Markey on Thursday proposed new national security safeguards that would ensure TikTok could remain online as the fate of the short video app used by 170 million Americans remains uncertain.

Congress last year passed legislation to force China's ByteDance to divest TikTok by January 19 or face a ban, but President Donald Trump has directed the Justice Department not to enforce the law.

Markey's proposal would eliminate the requirement that ByteDance sell TikTok’s U.S. operations if it establishes transparency requirements about content and limits foreign access to the data of TikTok’s American users.

Last month, Trump extended by 90 days to September 17 a deadline for ByteDance to divest the U.S. assets of TikTok.

Some Democratic lawmakers including Markey argue Trump has no legal authority to extend the deadline and have suggested the deal under consideration would not meet legal requirements.

“For months, I have been urging my colleagues to find an alternative path to the TikTok ban that keeps TikTok online without jeopardizing national security," Markey said. "With Trump continuing to illegally extend the divestment deadline, it’s time for Congress to reassert its legislative power, fix its mistake, and consider a new approach to TikTok."

A deal had been in the works this spring that would spin off TikTok's U.S. operations into a new U.S.-based firm, majority-owned and operated by U.S. investors. This stalled after China indicated it would not approve it following Trump's announcements of steep tariffs on Chinese goods.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said last week TikTok will have to stop operating in the United States if China does not approve a deal for the sale of the app.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday said the future of TikTok did not come up in recent trade talks with China.

Trump has three times granted reprieves from federal enforcement of the law that mandated the sale or shutdown of TikTok that was supposed to take effect in January.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Andrea Ricci)

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