TikTok users will not need to use a VPN to access the video-sharing service because the US Department of Commerce has lifted the ban on the app in the United States. The ban was originally scheduled to take effect on November 12 of this year after the Trump administration deemed the request a national security risk. However, TikTok recently had to seek more information from the United States Court of Appeals after receiving "no substantial refund" despite a looming deadline. Earlier this year, the US government announced that the parent company of the ByteDance app should sell its US assets due to national security concerns. TikTok then offered to sell part of its business to Oracle and Walmart, but for the deal to go through, the Chinese government would also have to approve it. The app then received a preliminary injunction from a Philadelphia court blocking the upcoming ban, but it's unclear as of now exactly what would happen once the deadline passed.
Postponed for now
The US Department of Commerce announced this week that it will "comply with the terms" of the September preliminary injunction, meaning TikTok will still not be banned in the United States. The app could still end up being banned, though, as TikTok was only given an extra 15 days, until November 27, to persuade national security officials that its deal with Oracle and Walmart should be approved. At the same time, the deal must also receive approval from the Chinese government to be finalized. The United States is not the first country to consider banning TikTok, as the Indian government banned it and 58 other Chinese apps this summer citing data and privacy concerns. Only time will tell if the current administration plans to continue its efforts to ban the app. However, President Trump still appears to be solely focused on the 2020 US election, meaning ByteDance could end up not having to sell TikTok's US assets to another company after all. Via BBC