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- TikTok's potential divestiture from its China-based, parent company ByteDance (BDNCE) could be pushed from its current six-month timeline to a year, said U.S. Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), according to Reuters.
- The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill in March that would require TikTok to divest from ByteDance within six months if it became law. The bill passed 352-65 with wide bipartisan support.
- However, the U.S. Senate has appeared less enthusiastic over the current language of the bill. Cantwell told reporters on Wednesday she likes the idea of extending the deadline for divestiture to one year, Reuters reported.
- "My guess is that would be a good component to guarantee success," Cantwell said. "We're talking to our colleagues, people have questions."
- The extension could give the bill a stronger legal position, she added. She also mentioned that attempts by former President Donald Trump and the state of Montana to ban the app, which is used by about 170M Americans, failed.
- ByteDance has indicated it has no plans to divest from TikTok even if the bill becomes law.
- Meta (META) and Google (GOOG)(GOOGL) would likely benefit the most if TikTok was banned.