TikTok Is Back in US App Stores | EUROtoday

Twenty-six days after it was banished from US app shops, TikTok has returned to the iOS App Store and Google Play retailer. Apple and Google introduced again the Chinese-owned video app after receiving a letter from US legal professional normal Pam Bondi assuring the businesses they’d not be fined for internet hosting it, Bloomberg first reported Thursday.

Google confirmed to WIRED it has introduced TikTok again, however didn’t instantly elaborate on the rationale. Apple, TikTok, and the Department of Justice didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark. Bondi was sworn into workplace final week.

The return concludes a fraught few weeks for TikTok. The platform disappeared from US app shops and went darkish for customers nationwide on January 19, hours earlier than the ban went into impact. It sputtered again to life later that day, after TikTok executives obtained their very own assurances from then president-elect Donald Trump that he would supply extra time for a decision to be reached. If you already had the app in your cellphone, it was functioning usually by that very same afternoon.

After Trump took workplace on January 20, certainly one of his first govt orders gave TikTok a reprieve. “I am instructing the Attorney General not to take any action to enforce the Act for a period of 75 days from today to allow my Administration an opportunity to determine the appropriate course forward,” the order reads.

Google and Apple, nevertheless, continued to maintain TikTok out of their marketplaces, which means new customers couldn’t set up it. That’s as a result of the legislation that undergirds the TikTok ban—the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA)—says that American tech corporations can’t “distribute, maintain, or update” any apps from ByteDance, TikTok’s father or mother firm. Those that do face the prospect of hefty fines. That means not simply TikTok however a dozen or so apps, together with fashionable choices like Lemon8, CapCut, and Marvel Snap, have been unavailable to obtain for over three weeks. (Those apps additionally returned to the app shops on Thursday.)

While TikTok was unavailable, customers looking for it on the iOS App Store have been greeted by the next message: “TikTok and other ByteDance apps are not available in the country or region you’re in.” A “Learn more” hyperlink despatched customers to a protracted article explaining why the app was gone and a reminder that they wouldn’t obtain any updates for so long as the ban was in place. The Google Play Store, in the meantime, stated, “Downloads for this app are paused due to current US legal requirements.” Searchers have been directed to competitor apps, a number of of which noticed a bump in utilization.

PAFACA permits the president to increase the deadline for banning TikTok by 90 days if he certifies to Congress that “significant progress” has been made towards a deal to promote the app to a non-Chinese firm.

Right earlier than taking workplace, Trump proposed that the US may have 50 p.c possession of TikTok, with out specifying what he meant. The president reportedly not too long ago tapped Vice President JD Vance to guide the negotiations between ByteDance and potential patrons. One reported situation would contain Oracle and a bunch of different buyers taking management of the platform.