Justice Department Releases Letters Concerning PAFACAA Enforcement

In response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, the Department of Justice has released a series of letters concerning the enforcement of the "Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act" (PAFACAA) in relation to TikTok.

The documents reveal that President Trump determined that “an abrupt shutdown of the TikTok platform would interfere with the execution of the President's constitutional duties to take care of the national security and foreign affairs of the United States.” On that basis, Attorney General Pam Bondi “is properly read not to infringe upon such core Presidential national security and foreign affairs powers.”

These letters state that, based on the president's directives, the companies have committed no violation of the Act and have incurred no liability during the “covered periods” in which the president instructed the Justice Department not to enforce PAFACAA. In many of the letters the Justice Department stated that it is also “irrevocably relinquishing any claims” against the recipients for violations of PAFACAA during the covered periods.

This FOIA release includes letters signed by Attorney General Pamela Bondi and Acting Attorney General James R. McHenry III which were addressed to the following companies:

• Akamai Technologies

• Amazon

• Apple Inc.

• Digital Realty Trust, Inc.

• Fastly, Inc.

• Google, Inc.

• LG Electronics USA, Inc.

• Microsoft Corporation

• Oracle Corporation

• T-Mobile US, Inc.

You can read the letters here or below: