Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (the TikTok divest-or-ban law)

The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act is division H of Public Law 118-50, approved on 24 April 2024. It makes it unlawful to distribute, maintain or update a "foreign adversary controlled application" in the United States by providing app-store (marketplace) services or internet hosting for it.

Who it covers. The Act itself designates any application operated, directly or indirectly, by ByteDance Ltd. or TikTok, including their subsidiaries and successors. The President can designate other applications through a separate process.

Divest or be cut off. The prohibitions take effect 270 days after an application is designated, which for TikTok meant 19 January 2025. They do not apply if the application goes through a "qualified divestiture" — one the President determines leaves it no longer controlled by a foreign adversary. The President may grant a single extension of up to 90 days if a divestiture is under way.

The Supreme Court. TikTok's operating companies and a group of US users challenged the Act under the First Amendment. On 17 January 2025 the Supreme Court held that the challenged provisions do not violate their First Amendment rights, affirming the D.C. Circuit.

What happened next. The ban was not enforced; a series of executive orders extended non-enforcement while a divestiture was negotiated. On 22 January 2026 the deal closed and TikTok's US business passed to TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC. Silver Lake, Oracle and MGX hold 45 percent and ByteDance retains 19.9 percent. The joint venture says US user data will be protected in Oracle's US cloud environment.