Cybersecurity & Tech Executive Branch Surveillance & Privacy

Trump Orders 75-Day Pause on TikTok Law Enforcement

Alan Z. Rozenshtein
Monday, January 20, 2025, 9:43 PM
The order directs the Justice Department to suspend PAFACAA implementation and declare "no violation" for providing services to TikTok.

Published by The Lawfare Institute
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On Jan. 20, President Donald Trump issued an executive order directing the attorney general to suspend enforcement of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACAA) for 75 days. The order comes after the Supreme Court's Friday decision upholding the Act and purports to temporarily halt PAFACAA’s prohibitions, which took effect on Jan. 19, against distributing, maintaining, or updating "foreign adversary controlled applications" operated by ByteDance, including TikTok.

The order cites the president's "unique constitutional responsibility for the national security of the United States, the conduct of foreign policy, and other vital executive functions" as justification for the suspension, while noting the "unfortunate timing" of PAFACAA’s implementation one day before Trump took office.

The order directs the attorney general to:

  1. Suspend enforcement and penalties under PAFACAA for 75 days, including retroactive protection for conduct occurring before the order's issuance—specifically covering infrastructure providers' hosting services on January 19–20;
  2. Issue letters to affected providers explicitly stating "there has been no violation of the statute and that there is no liability for any conduct" related to TikTok services during the non-enforcement period; and
  3. Assert and defend the executive branch's exclusive enforcement authority under the Act against potential state or private party enforcement attempts.

The order concludes with a standard disclaimer that appears to qualify its liability protections: "This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person."

You can read the order here or below:

 


Alan Z. Rozenshtein is an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota Law School, Research Director and Senior Editor at Lawfare, a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, and a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Previously, he served as an Attorney Advisor with the Office of Law and Policy in the National Security Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and a Special Assistant United States Attorney in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland. He also speaks and consults on technology policy matters.

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