Lawmakers Tell Apple and Google to Prepare for TikTok Ban

The Republican and Democratic leaders of a House select committee said Friday (Dec. 13) that TikTok should sell its app and that Apple and Google should be ready to remove TikTok from their app stores by Jan. 19 if the company does not sell it.

Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., who are chairman and ranking member, respectively, of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, said this in letters sent to the CEOs of the companies, according to a Friday press release.

They sent their letters a week after the announcement of a Dec. 6 federal appeals court ruling that the U.S. law requiring Chinese company ByteDance to sell TikTok or see the app banned in the country does not violate the First Amendment.

The bill was signed into law by President Joe Biden in April after concerns that the app presented a national security threat.

In their letter to TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, the lawmakers noted the Dec. 6 court decision that upheld the law and added that TikTok has had since April 24, when the bill was signed into law, to come into compliance.

“Congress has acted decisively to defend the national security of the United States and protect TikTok’s American users from the Chinese Communist Party,” they wrote. “We urge TikTok to immediately execute a qualified divestiture.”

In their letters to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, the representatives noted the court decision and their letter to TikTok and said that the law makes it illegal to “distribute, maintain or update” the app.

“Under U.S. law, [Apple and Google] must take the necessary steps to ensure [they] can fully comply with this requirement by January 19, 2025,” they wrote.

In the Dec. 6 ruling, the three-judge panel said the Chinese government enacted laws that allow it to access and use data held by Chinese companies.

On Monday (Dec. 9), TikTok filed an emergency motion for an injunction to stop the ban from being implemented until its appeal is heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.