TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, signed binding agreements with three major investors to sell just over 80 per cent of the company’s US assets to American and global investors to avoid a US government ban, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew told employees.
The signing is a significant step toward resolving years of uncertainty about the short video app’s future in the United States since August 2020, when then-President Donald Trump first tried unsuccessfully to ban it.
Here is a timeline of TikTok’s saga in the US.
2017: ByteDance acquires US video app Flipgram and lip-syncing app Musical.ly.
2018: ByteDance integrates Musical.ly into TikTok.
March 2019: TikTok surpasses 1 billion downloads globally on Apple’s App Store and Google Play.
April 2020: TikTok hits 2 billion downloads globally.
Jul 7, 2020: Trump suggests a TikTok ban could be deployed to punish China for the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Aug 6, 2020: Trump issues an executive order banning transactions with TikTok and ByteDance, starting in 45 days.
Aug 13, 2020: Two Republican senators send a letter to the Federal Trade Commission asking for an investigation of TikTok’s data collection.
Aug 14, 2020: Trump orders ByteDance to divest its interest in TikTok’s US operations within 90 days.
Sep 14, 2020: ByteDance picks Oracle over Microsoft as its partner in a bid to keep TikTok operating in the United States.
Sep 18, 2020: The Trump administration says it will ban TikTok from US app stores from Sep 21.
Nov 2020: ByteDance challenges Trump’s order to divest TikTok, and is granted extensions.
Mar 2, 2022: Eight states, including California and Massachusetts, launch a probe into whether TikTok causes physical or mental health harm to young people.
Dec 20, 2022: US moves to ban TikTok on government devices.
Mar 23, 2023: TikTok CEO Chew testifies before Congress; over five hours of testimony, he repeatedly denies the app shares data or has connections with the Chinese Communist Party.
May 17, 2023: Montana becomes the first US state to ban TikTok.
Mar 14, 2024: US House of Representatives passes a bill that would give ByteDance about six months to divest TikTok’s US assets, or face a ban.
Apr 24, 2024: President Joe Biden signs a law giving ByteDance until Jan 19, 2025, to sell TikTok; failure would lead to its ban from US app stores and from “internet hosting services” that support it.
May 7, 2024: TikTok and ByteDance sue in a US federal court seeking to block Biden’s law that would force TikTok’s divestiture.
Aug 2, 2024: The US Justice Department files a lawsuit against TikTok and ByteDance for failing to protect children’s privacy on the social media app.
Dec 6, 2024: A US federal appeals court upholds the law requiring ByteDance to divest TikTok in the US by January 2025 or face a ban.
Jan 18, 2025: TikTok stops working for users in the United States, disappears from Apple and Google app stores before the law shutting it down on national security grounds took effect the next day.
Jan 19, 2025: TikTok says it is restoring service after then President-elect Donald Trump said he would revive the app’s access in the US when he returns to power. Deadline extended to early April.
Apr 4, 2025: President Trump extends the deadline for the sale of ByteDance’s US assets of TikTok.
May 4, 2025: Trump says he will extend the Jun 19 deadline for TikTok’s sale.
Jun 19, 2025: Trump extends the Jun 19 sale deadline by 90 days to Sep 17, for the third time.
Jun 29, 2025: Trump says he has found a buyer for TikTok, which he describes as a group of “very wealthy people”, in a Fox News interview.
Aug 19, 2025: The White House launches its official TikTok account.
Sep 15, 2025: US and Chinese officials reach a framework agreement to switch TikTok to US-controlled ownership.
Sep 16, 2025: Trump says the US and China have a deal that will keep TikTok operating and that the US will announce a buyer. The US extends the deadline to sell Chinese ownership of TikTok to Dec 16.
Dec 18, 2025: ByteDance told its employees that ByteDance and TikTok signed binding agreements with three managing investors: Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX, to form a new TikTok-US joint venture named TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC. The deal is set to close on Jan 22.