WASHINGTON — On Friday (Dec 13), the chair and ranking Democrat of a US House of Representatives committee on China urged the CEOs of Alphabet, Google's parent company, and Apple to prepare for the removal of TikTok from their app stores by Jan 19.
A US federal appeals court recently upheld a law requiring China-based ByteDance to sell TikTok in the United States or face a nationwide ban. Representative John Moolenaar, a Republican and committee chair, along with Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, the committee's leading Democrat, separately called on TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew to divest the app, which is used by 170 million Americans.
"Congress has taken decisive action to protect US national security and shield TikTok's American users from potential influence by the Chinese Communist Party. We urge TikTok to promptly implement a qualified divestiture," the lawmakers stated. Neither Apple, Alphabet, nor TikTok provided immediate responses. Earlier this week, ByteDance and TikTok filed an emergency appeal seeking to temporarily block the law pending a US Supreme Court review.
On Wednesday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) clarified that while the ban set for Jan 19 would not immediately stop Apple and Google users with existing TikTok downloads from using the app, restrictions on support services would ultimately render it inoperative.
TikTok responded on Thursday, warning that without a court intervention, the app would vanish from app stores on Jan 19, leaving millions of potential users without access. The company added that halting support services would "cripple the platform in the US, making it completely unusable. "ByteDance and TikTok also noted that President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to oppose a TikTok ban.
Meanwhile, Republican Senator Josh Hawley expressed hope that ByteDance will comply with the law by selling TikTok, emphasizing that the statute provides no flexibility. "The core issue is its oversight by Beijing — that's the concern," Hawley remarked.
Disclaimer: This image is taken from Reuters file
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