TikTok has returned to U.S. app stores after a month-long absence due to security concerns and a temporary ban, following President Trump’s delay of the ban’s enforcement.
Apple, Google, and Oracle risked incurring penalties for non-compliance with the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. Former President Joe Biden signed this law in April, requiring ByteDance, based in China, to divest its U.S. TikTok operations by January 19, or the app would face a ban in the country.
TikTok has challenged the law, stating that it infringes upon the First Amendment rights of its more than 170 million users in the U.S. The U.S. government has argued that ByteDance’s ownership and alleged connections to the People’s Republic of China pose a national security risk.
“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,” the Supreme Court stated.
TikTok responded to the Supreme Court’s decision by threatening to shut down its U.S. operations unless the Biden administration intervened.
The app’s return was facilitated after President Donald Trump announced a postponement of the ban’s enforcement. On his first day in office, he signed an executive order extending the law’s deadline by 75 days, setting a new deadline of April 5.
Trump stated on his Truth Social platform that he “would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture” to “save TikTok, keep it in good hands and allow it to stay up.”
Despite its absence from the app stores for nearly a month, TikTok had recovered approximately 90% of the traffic it experienced before the law’s January 19 deadline.