Google Play announced that TikTok has been reinstated in the U.S. app stores, following commitments made by President Donald Trump to preserve the app and an executive action that postponed the implementation of a ban on this immensely popular social media platform. Nearly a month later, TikTok is now once again available for download in both the Apple App Store and Google Play.
Bloomberg and CNBC also reported that Apple will reinstate the app in its app store on Thursday evening. As of Thursday evening, TikTok was accessible on app stores.
Legal challenges and national security concerns
TikTok’s precarious future originated from a law enacted last April by then-President Joe Biden, which mandated that China’s ByteDance must sell the app to a U.S. owner or an ally within 270 days or face a ban, due to concerns regarding U.S. national security. Just a day before the blackout, the Supreme Court upheld the ban.
In January, TikTok experienced a shutdown lasting approximately 14 hours but attributed its swift return to assurances made by then-president-elect Donald Trump to keep the platform operational in the U.S. However, its 175 million users encountered at least one hurdle: the app was, during that January weekend, not available on the Apple and Google Play stores, alongside Lemon8 and CapCut, which are also owned by TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance.
Apple previously stated that it removed TikTok from the app store due to the ban, although the app remained accessible to users who had already downloaded it.
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First Amendment claims vs. national security
TikTok contends that the law infringes upon the First Amendment rights of its over 170 million U.S. users, while the U.S. government argues that ByteDance’s ownership and its alleged connections to the People’s Republic of China pose a national security threat. In January, the Supreme Court sided with the Biden administration, stating, “Congress has determined that divestiture is necessary to address its well-supported national security concerns regarding TikTok’s data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary.”
TikTok responded to the Supreme Court’s ruling by following through on its threat to shut down its U.S. operations unless the Biden administration intervened. The app returned to service after President Donald Trump announced he would delay the enforcement of the ban. On his first day in office, he signed an executive order extending the law’s deadline by an additional 75 days to April 5.
