William Delgado Quoted in LA Times Article about the Executive Order to Ban TikTok

William Delgado was recently quoted in Wendy Lee’s Los Angeles Times article “Trump signs executive order to ban TikTok, WeChat,” which discusses President Trump’s order to ban TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, from engaging in business transactions with American companies. Another order bans WeChat from engaging in similar transactions.

Trump announced that he is open to TikTok selling its U.S. operations to Microsoft, but only if some of the proceeds go to the U.S. Treasury, raising questions of legality. 

“There’s nothing specific that says you can do this,” said Will Delgado, a founding partner at DTO Law. “You do have a president that has a different type of mind-set than previous presidents and maybe it just hadn’t occurred to other presidents in the past.”

The purchaser, who would have legal standing to challenge such a requirement, has already signaled it may acquiesce. Microsoft in a statement Sunday said it is “committed to acquiring TikTok subject to a complete security review and providing proper economic benefits to the United States, including the United States Treasury.”

But if such a deal goes through, it could deter similar acquisitions in the future.

“One wonders about the chilling effect at a very practical level of what might happen in a future transaction, if somebody is fearful of having to pay such a fee and they don’t want to. Might that discourage a transaction from … even coming up?” Delgado said.

The full article can be found below. (Subscription required)

Trump signs executive order to ban TikTok, WeChat