President Trump today issued another executive order against TikTok, but it's actually a bit of good news for ByteDance, which owns the popular app.
Trump's new executive order says that ByteDance must sell its TikTok business in the US within 90 days, which is November 12. Previously, Trump said that he would be banning TikTok in the US within 45 days, which gave ByteDance a deadline of September 20.
Today's new executive order also states that ByteDance must also get rid of any data its obtained through TikTok or Musical.ly (TikTok's predecessor) in the US once the app is sold.
ByteDance must then confirm to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) that it has destroyed all of the data on US users obtained through TikTok or Musical.ly. The CFIUS can then perform an audit on ByteDance to confirm that that data has been destroyed.
In his order, President Trump explains that he's taking this action because there is "credible evidence" that TikTok owner ByteDance "might take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States."
Microsoft confirmed earlier this month that it's in discussions to buy TikTok's US operations. At that time, Microsoft said that it was "prepared to continue discussions to explore a purchase of TikTok in the United States" and that it planned to move the talks along quickly. Microsoft aims to complete the discussions by September 15.
