TikTok ban: Apple must remove it from the App Store next month

As a ban on TikTok in the U.S. quickly approaches, lawmakers reminded Apple on Friday that they will face enforcement liability.

TikTok Ban: Latest News

To recap, President Biden signs TikTok April’s “Divest or Suppress” Bill. The bill does not explicitly ban TikTok, but gives its China-linked parent company ByteDance nine months to sell TikTok. That period expires next month, when TikTok will be banned in the United States starting on January 19. upheld in court last week.

The law was introduced amid concerns that TikTok and ByteDance could pose a threat to U.S. national security.

Starting January 19, app store operators such as Apple and Google will be banned from hosting TikTok in the United States. in a New letter this weekHouse China Select Committee Chairs John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Illinois) sent a letter to Apple CEO Cook reminding him of Apple’s responsibilities:

As you know, if there is no qualified divestiture, the Act provides that “[p]short[e]Services that distribute, maintain, or update such foreign adversary-controlled applications (including any source code for such applications) through marketplaces (including online mobile application stores) that users within the land or maritime borders of the United States can transparently Access, maintain or update such applications through the Market.

Under U.S. law, Apple must take the necessary steps to ensure full compliance with this requirement by January 19, 2025.

legislators sent a similar letters To Google CEO Sundar Pichai and a new letter To TikTok CEO Shou Chew. In a letter to Zhou, the MPs said:

“The court held that'[t]The First Amendment exists to protect free speech in the United States. Here, the government acted simply to protect that freedom from a foreign adversary state and limit that adversary’s ability to collect information on Americans.[,]”And rejects all of TikTok’s constitutional claims…Congress takes decisive action to defend U.S. national security and protect TikTok’s American users from the Chinese Communist Party. We urge TikTok to immediately implement qualified divestment.”

While ByteDance still has more than a month to fight and avoid a TikTok ban in the U.S., time is certainly running out. Do you think the app will eventually be banned? Let us know in the comments.

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