Apple, along with Google’s parent company, Alphabet, has been instructed by US lawmakers to prepare for the potential removal of TikTok from their app stores by January 19, 2025. This comes from Representative John Moolenaar, the Republican chair of the House Committee on China, and Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, the committee’s top Democrat.
The instruction coles after a recent federal appeals court decision upholding a law that requires ByteDance, TikTok’s China-based parent company, to divest its US operations i.e. to sell the American end of the company to someone in the US or face a ban. The law, signed by President Joe Biden in April 2024, gives ByteDance until January 19, 2025, to comply.
If implemented, the ban would remove TikTok from Apple’s App Store, and there would be no more new downloads, which might affect the app’s functionality for existing users. Similar to what happened with Fortnite.
The Department of Justice has stated that while current TikTok users on Apple platforms won’t be directly affected immediately after January 19, restrictions on support services could eventually make the app inoperable.
ByteDance and TikTok have filed an emergency appeal with the US Supreme Court, seeking to temporarily block the law while awaiting further review.
Apple has not yet commented on the lawmakers’ directive.
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