Although TikTok has returned online for current U.S. users after briefly being taken offline over the weekend to comply with a divestment or ban law, however, it remains absent from U.S. app stores.
The app may face significant challenges reappearing in these stores despite President Trump’s executive order on Monday, which grants TikTok and its partners an additional 75 days to operate without legal repercussions.
Trump’s order instructed the Attorney General to notify TikTok’s service providers that they would not face liability related to the law, which mandated TikTok’s owner, ByteDance, to divest from its U.S. assets by January 19—something ByteDance failed to do.
Despite this non-enforcement assurance, legal experts told Business Insider that Apple and Google’s parent company, Alphabet, might still be reluctant to reinstate TikTok due to the significant legal risks involved.
The divest-or-ban law could impose hefty fines, potentially reaching hundreds of billions of dollars, on service providers who continue to support TikTok and other ByteDance apps. The reassurance from the Attorney General may not be enough to convince company lawyers to defy the law. Legal experts suggested that the heads of Apple and Google might override their legal counsel, though such a move remains uncertain.
The executive order itself includes language that could be concerning for in-house counsel. Specifically, it states that nothing in the order shall limit the authority of executive departments or agencies, potentially leaving room for future legal actions that could affect service providers.
For TikTok, being absent from app stores is particularly damaging, as it relies on these platforms to attract new users and send updates to existing ones, which are vital to the app’s functionality over time. Some legal analysts remain optimistic, however, about TikTok’s chances of returning to the app stores. Aram Gavoor, a law professor, sees the executive order as providing a “safe harbor” for TikTok’s partners, potentially reassuring them to continue hosting the app.
Apple and Google have not yet decided whether to reinstate TikTok on their platforms following Trump’s order. Neither company responded to requests for comment. Previously, Apple stated it had to adhere to local laws, including the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which led to the removal of ByteDance apps from its store.