Further Extending the TikTok Enforcement Delay

The order extends the enforcement delay — originally created by Executive Order 14166 and previously extended by Executive Order 14258 — under the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act until September 17, 2025. During that period, the Department of Justice may not enforce the Act or impose penalties on any entity for distributing, maintaining, or updating a foreign adversary controlled application. Even after the delay expires, DOJ is barred from taking enforcement action for any conduct that occurred during the delay or at any point from January 19, 2025, through the date of signing.

The Attorney General is directed to issue written guidance implementing the non-enforcement provisions, send formal letters to each covered provider confirming no violation occurred and no liability attaches, and use all available authority to block states or private parties from attempting their own enforcement of the Act.

TikTok and other platform providers covered under the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, app store operators, and any entity whose distribution or maintenance of TikTok could have triggered liability under the Act. State attorneys general and private plaintiffs are also directly constrained by the order's assertion of exclusive federal enforcement authority.

TikTok and associated app distributors remain shielded from federal penalties through at least mid-September 2025, and receive formal DOJ letters clearing them of any past liability. States and private parties are put on notice that the federal government will actively resist their attempts to enforce the same law independently.

The Attorney General carries out the order in three steps: issuing internal written guidance to DOJ staff instructing them not to enforce the Act, sending individual no-liability letters to each covered provider, and asserting executive-branch supremacy to block any state or private enforcement attempts. No new regulatory process is triggered, and there is no oversight or reporting mechanism specified. The delay's expiration on September 17, 2025 does not retroactively expose any past conduct to liability.