US Lawmaker Directs Apple And Google To Prepare To Remove TikTok From App Store By January 19 The popular social media app TikTok is set to be banned in the US from January 19. On Friday, the chairman and top Democrat of the US House of Representatives China Committee instructed Apple and Google to be prepared to remove TikTok from the App Store.
Last week, a US federal appeals court upheld a law that would have forced China-based ByteDance to sell TikTok in the US or face sanctions. According to news agency Reuters, both Republican Representative John Mulnay, the committee’s chairman, and Representative Raja Krishnamurthy, the top Democrat on the committee, have separately called on TikTok CEO Shou Ji-chio to sell TikTok.
President Trump will formally take office for a four-year term on January 20.
TikTok has more than 170 million users in the United States alone. “The U.S. Congress has taken decisive action to protect national security and protect American TikTok users from the Chinese Communist Party. We urge TikTok to immediately proceed with the sale of eligible assets,” the lawmakers wrote.
According to the US Department of Justice, if TikTok is banned in the US on January 19, it will not affect Apple or Google users who have downloaded the app. However, they will not receive the support they would receive from TikTok.
TikTok responded on Thursday that if the law goes into effect on January 19 without a court order, TikTok would be removed from mobile app stores. And more than half of the country would be unable to use it. If users who have already downloaded it do not receive support services, the platform will be completely unusable in the US.
Republican Senator Josh Hawley said in an interview, “I hope ByteDance sells TikTok to an American company. Because there is no room for exceptions in this law.” He added, “The law is what it is. The main problem is that TikTok is under Chinese control and is subject to Beijing’s surveillance. That is the real root of the problem.”
