Lutnick: TikTok ‘to go dark’ unless China gives US more control over app

Logo of TikTok

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Thursday that TikTok will go dark for Americans unless China agrees to give the U.S. more control over the popular short-form video app.

This came after President Donald Trump extended the deadline for Chinese divestiture for a third time, giving ByteDance until Sept. 17.

“We’ve made the decision. You can’t have Chinese control and have something on 100 million American phones,” Lutnick told CNBC on Thursday.

Washington has been pushing Beijing in Tiktok talks for the platform’s Chinese owner ByteDance divests its investments in the app and grant the US full domestic control over its programming, with the claim of protecting national security.