The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden signaled it would slow down an effort to force TikTok to unwind its U.S. operations, asking a federal judge on Wednesday to pause a lawsuit over former President Donald Trump’s ban of the popular video app while the new White House reviews its predecessor’s policies.
The White House said TikTok, owned by China-based ByteDance Ltd., is part of a wide-ranging examination of the government’s posture toward Beijing, including how to guard against risks to Americans’ online data.
Those risks, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said, will be addressed "in a decisive and effective fashion,” though no action is imminent. "It’s a broad review that’s expanded beyond TikTok,” Psaki told reporters in a briefing at the White House.