As the White House worked to secure the sale of TikTok’s US business to President Donald Trump’s allies, Big Tech firms received personal promises from the Justice Department that they wouldn’t be prosecuted for violating a new national security law by hosting the Chinese social media platform.
But it wasn’t enough — new documents, which were obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request by the Public Integrity Project and provided exclusively to the Lever, show Alphabet, Apple, and Microsoft successfully pressured federal prosecutors to issue additional assurances granting them total amnesty for hosting and conducting business for the app.
In 2024, in response to concerns that the Chinese government could access data from TikTok — a social media app owned by Beijing firm ByteDance — to spy on Americans, Congress passed the Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which prohibited US firms from hosting overseas social platforms deemed a national security threat.
But in an executive order issued on Trump’s first day back in office — hours after Big Tech CEOs enjoyed front-row seats at his inauguration — the president delayed enforcement of the law pending an “appropriate course forward in an orderly way that protects national security while avoiding an abrupt shutdown of a communications platform used by millions of Americans.” The order was a win for Trump allies invested in TikTok, such as Trump megadonor Jeffrey Yass, who dumped $16 million into Trump’s MAGA Inc. super PAC amid the ongoing sales discussions.
Trump’s order was also backed by personal assurances from then Attorney General Pam Bondi to tech companies, including Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, and Microsoft, that they wouldn’t be prosecuted.
But the public promises weren’t enough. Attorneys for Alphabet, Microsoft, and Apple then emailed the Justice Department seeking additional assurances that they would not be prosecuted for working with TikTok, correspondence…
Auteur: Veronica Riccobene
