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16-02-2025
WASHINGTON/ NEW YORK: TikTok has returned to the app stores of Apple and Google in the United States after President Donald Trump delayed the enforcement of a ban on the popular social media app, operated by Chinese technology firm ByteDance.
The app’s fate had been up in the air since a law requiring its Chinese owner to either sell it on national security grounds or face a ban taking effect on January 19. TikTok, which has more than 170 million American users, was removed from Apple and Google’s app stores on January 18 to comply with the law.
After taking office on January 20, Trump signed an executive order seeking to delay by 75 days the enforcement of the law. However, Apple and Google had not made TikTok available on their app stores until now.
The video-sharing app has long faced troubles in the US, with the government claiming that its Chinese ownership and access to the data of millions of Americans makes it a national security risk.
The ban was passed due to concerns that the Chinese government could exploit the app to spy on Americans or covertly influence US public opinion through data collection and content manipulation.
Its owner denied allegations that it has shared US user data at the behest of the Chinese government and argued that the law requiring it to be divested or banned violates the First Amendment rights of its American users.
Trump has suggested that TikTok could be jointly owned, with half of its ownership being American.
In remarks to reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump said he still hoped to make a deal to keep the app alive in the US, crediting it with helping him win the 2024 presidential election.
Trump said he believed Chinese President Xi Jinping would agree to approve the sale of TikTok to a US buyer as it would also be in China’s interest.
“I’m going to make it worthwhile for China to do,” he said, without giving any details. “I think it would be to China’s advantage to have the deal be made.”
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew has concluded his first public hearing before the United States Congress, where he attempted to dispel concerns over the Chinese-owned app’s ties to the government in Beijing and its alleged inability to stem “harmful” content. The hearing, which stretched longer than five hours, took place on Thursday in front of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
It underscored the growing bipartisan support to take action against TikTok, with both Democrats and Republicans on the committee expressing scepticism over the company’s autonomy from the Chinese government.
For his part, Chew sought to portray the app, which has 150 million monthly users in the US, as “a place where people can be creative and curious”. He also maintained that the company is taking actions that will surpass industry standards in terms of data protection and transparency.
China’s influence
Legislators repeatedly asked Chew about China’s alleged influence over TikTok, an issue that both Republican committee chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers and ranking Democrat Frank Pallone cited as a source of national security concerns.
Pallone called the Chinese company ByteDance, which owns TikTok, a “Beijing communist-based parent company”.
Chew repeatedly said that ByteDance “is not owned or controlled by the Chinese government” and that he has seen “no evidence” that the Chinese government has accessed or requested access to US user data. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
