TikTok Faces Potential Removal from US App Stores #

Lawmakers Push for TikTok Divestiture or Ban #

Alphabet and Apple may need to remove TikTok from their U.S. app stores on January 19, according to a bipartisan letter sent to the companies’ CEOs. This follows a federal appeals court upholding a law requiring China-based ByteDance to divest TikTok in the United States or face a ban.

The app, used by 170 million Americans, is at the center of national security concerns. Lawmakers urged TikTok’s CEO to sell the app, stating, “Congress has acted decisively to defend the national security of the United States and protect TikTok’s American users from the Chinese Communist Party.”

ByteDance and TikTok have made an emergency bid to temporarily block the law pending a Supreme Court review. The Department of Justice clarified that if the ban takes effect, it would not immediately prohibit continued use by existing users but would eventually render the application unworkable.

TikTok warned that without a court order, the app will disappear from mobile app stores on January 19 and become unavailable to half the country that doesn’t already use it. The company also cautioned that ending support services will cripple the platform in the United States.

Some politicians hope ByteDance will sell TikTok, as the law leaves no room for alternatives. “The main issue is it’s subject to Chinese oversight, Beijing oversight - that’s the problem,” one senator remarked.

The situation remains fluid, with potential impacts on millions of users and significant implications for U.S.-China technology relations.