Following reports that the Trump administration convinced the tech titans that they would not be subject to legal repercussions for supporting the Chinese-owned social media site, TikTok was reinstated in the app stores operated by Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc. on Thursday.
Due to a bipartisan law that forbade it in the United States, the well-known video-sharing software was taken down from Alphabet’s (GOOG) (GOOGL) Google Play store and Apple’s (AAPL) software Store on January 19. President Donald Trump issued an executive order postponing the law’s enforcement on his first day back in office. The tech behemoths, however, excluded TikTok from their app stores since the prohibition was still in effect.
The Justice Department will not enforce the law, which sought to block the app in the United States as long as it is still under the control of its Chinese parent company, ByteDance Ltd., rather than being sold to other entities, according to a letter released by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday, according to Bloomberg News and the Wall Street Journal.
ByteDance and TikTok can now resume their growth trajectory, which is wonderful news. The approximately 170 million U.S. customers who had previously downloaded the program were not significantly impacted by the ban, but it did stop new users from installing it and prohibited them from obtaining software updates.
However, there are serious risks associated with the decision for Alphabet and Apple. The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which was passed in April, is enforceable regardless of the executive order until Congress repeals it. Additionally, businesses that break the restriction face $5,000 fines per user, which may total up to $850 billion in civil penalties.
The decisions made by Alphabet and Apple “should give the app a reprieve by letting the popular video-sharing app update through April 5, but the ice remains thin and only a sale or new law would create solid ground,” according to a note released Friday by Matthew Schettenhelm and Tamlin Bason, analysts at Bloomberg Intelligence. The analysts stated that the decision made by the app store administrators might not stand.
Although Trump may decide to prolong it, Apple and Alphabet may have to make another decision regarding whether to remove the app if Trump’s nonenforcement order expires in early April. It “would more brazenly defy the law,” according to Schettenhelm and Bason, to extend the order past April 5.
And despite any guarantees, the tech companies can find themselves in legal hot water if Trump decides to reverse his mind.
They might also be subject to consequences in 2029 under a new presidential administration because the punishment has a five-year statute of limitations.
Requests for response were not immediately answered by Google or Apple.
If ByteDance sells TikTok’s U.S. business to an American company, the restriction would be irrelevant. According to reports, several IT firms have shown interest, including Perplexity AI and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT). Additionally, Trump has stated that a sizable portion of TikTok may be acquired by a new U.S. sovereign-wealth fund that he plans to establish.
According to the analysts at Bloomberg Intelligence, a divestment is probably not very likely to happen right now. “Trump’s proposal of a joint venture in which TikTok would be 50% owned by the U.S. probably signals a ByteDance sale is far from any deal,” they stated. Furthermore, they wrote, the prohibition would still stand because the president’s proposal for a joint venture with the existing owners would not qualify as a divestment under the legislation.
“In general, Republicans still emphasize the dangers to national security of permitting the app to be owned by a parent business with headquarters in China. The ‘warm spot’ that President Trump has for the app doesn’t seem to be changing his opinion, according to Schettenhelm and Bason.
Apple and Alphabet’s Google division have been attempting to maintain their good standing with the Trump administration; both could be significantly impacted by tariffs and are facing federal antitrust cases. In addition, both just updated their maps to show Trump’s directive to rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.”
Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, gave $1 million to the Trump inauguration committee. In addition to giving $1 million, Google recently abandoned its diversity-hiring targets, which Trump has criticized.
