With the impending TikTok ban in the U.S., lawmakers reminded Apple on Friday of their duty to enforce it.
Latest on the TikTok Ban
To recap, President Biden approved the TikTok divest-or-ban bill back in April. Although it didn’t outright ban TikTok, the legislation required ByteDance, its China-linked parent company, to sell the app within a few months. This period ends next month; if not sold, TikTok will face a ban in the U.S. starting January 19. Just last week, the law was upheld in court.
This legal action arose from concerns that TikTok and ByteDance may pose a national security risk to the United States.
Effective January 19, app store platforms like Apple and Google will be prohibited from offering TikTok within the U.S. Recently, House China Select Committee chair John Moolenaar (R-MI) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) sent a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook reiterating Apple’s obligation:
“Without a qualified divestiture, the Act makes it illegal to provide services to distribute, maintain, or update such foreign adversary controlled application (including any source code of such application) through a marketplace (including an online mobile application store) that allows users within the land or maritime borders of the United States to access, maintain, or update such application.”
As required by U.S. law, Apple must take the appropriate actions needed to comply with this requirement by January 19, 2025.
Similar communications were sent to Google CEO Sundar Pichai and also to TikTok CEO Shou Chew. In the message to Chew, lawmakers stated:
“The Court maintained that ‘[t]he First Amendment exists to protect free speech in the United States. Here, the Government acted solely to uphold that freedom against a foreign adversary nation and to restrict that adversary’s capacity to collect data on individuals in the United States,’ which nullified all of TikTok’s constitutional claims… Congress has taken decisive action to safeguard national security and protect TikTok’s American users from the Chinese Communist Party. We request that TikTok promptly proceed with a qualified divestiture.”
With only a little over a month left for ByteDance to act and potentially prevent a TikTok ban in the U.S., the clock is ticking. Do you think the app will ultimately face a ban? Share your thoughts in the comments!
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