TikTok Returns to Apple & Google Stores in the U.S. After Legal Battle
TikTok, along with CapCut and Lemon8, is reinstated on U.S. app stores after legal hurdles.
image for illustrative purpose
TikTok has returned to Apple’s App Store and Google Play in the United States, nearly a month after both platforms removed the app due to compliance with a national security law. The short-video platform, along with ByteDance-owned CapCut and Lemon8, was reinstated on Thursday evening.
The removal stemmed from a law enacted last year under former President Joe Biden, mandating that TikTok’s U.S. operations be divested from its Chinese parent company ByteDance by January 19, 2025, to continue operating in the country. The law also included provisions imposing financial penalties on app store operators that failed to enforce the ban. Despite ByteDance’s legal challenges, the Supreme Court upheld the legislation on January 17.
Following the presidential transition, newly inaugurated President Donald Trump signed an executive order on January 20, delaying the enforcement of the ban. ByteDance was granted an additional 75 days to secure a buyer for TikTok’s U.S. division, allowing the company to resume services in the country. However, Apple and Google delayed reinstating the app in their stores, citing ambiguity regarding potential penalties under the deferred law.
Throughout the period TikTok was unavailable in app stores, users who had already downloaded the app could continue using it, while those who had uninstalled it were unable to reinstall it. Service providers, including Oracle, resumed support for the app once the executive order was issued.
President Trump has floated the idea of the U.S. government acquiring a 50 per cent stake in TikTok through a joint venture with technology firms as an alternative to the outright ban. He also proposed the establishment of a sovereign wealth fund that could be leveraged to purchase TikTok’s U.S. assets. Oracle and Microsoft have been named among potential buyers.TikTok remained one of the most popular apps in the United States despite the legal battles. Data from Sensor Tower indicated that it was the second-most downloaded app in the country last year, accumulating 52 million downloads.
