While US President Donald Trump issued an executive order that delayed the ban of TikTok for 75 days, the app wasn’t available on Google and Apple stores the following day.
Apple stated on its app store that “TikTok and other ByteDance apps are no longer available in the United States, and visitors to the United States might have limited access to them”. Google Play explained “downloads for this app are paused due to current US legal requirements”.
Trump’s executive order instructs the US attorney general “to issue a letter to each [TikTok] provider stating that there has been no violation of the statute and that there is no liability for any conduct” as of 19 January and throughout the extension.
The executive order gave TikTok parent ByteDance an additional 75 days to find a US-based partner to buy up to 50 per cent of the short-form video platform to assuage national security concerns.
Despite Trump’s order, legal experts warn Apple and Google could face hefty fines based on the law signed by then President Joe Biden in April 2024. Last week the US Supreme Court upheld the law.
The law states companies that violate the ban could be fined $5,000 per user.
According to an X post by Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Matt Schottenheimer, a decision by Google or Apple to host the app again will “intentionally violate federal law” and see their legal exposure “go from $0 to $850 billion” in penalties based on TikTok’s 170 million US users.
Schettenhelm noted avoiding the large penalties based is “on a promise from a President who flipped 180 [degrees] on this very issue, & under statute of limitations that outlasts his presidency”.
While TikTok’s service is back in action, it could degrade over time without the ability to update the app.
