TECH NEWS – Although the platform of the Chinese company ByteDance is temporarily available again in the USA, Apple is taking a tougher stance on TikTok!
TikTok has been “protected” in the US for 75 days, thanks to an executive order by US President Donald Trump. TikTok is in question because its owner, ByteDance, is a Chinese company with ties to the Chinese Communist Party, making the platform a national security risk. Neither Apple nor Google have yet made the app available again on their platforms, but both seem to be keeping their distance, with Apple being more open in its dealings with them.
Apple has summarized in a new customer service document that all ByteDance apps (including, for example, CapCut, which is good for video editing) are unavailable on the App Store, and that includes updates: “Apple is required to comply with the laws of the jurisdictions in which it operates. Pursuant to the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, apps developed by ByteDance Ltd. and its subsidiaries – including TikTok, CapCut, Lemon8, and others – will no longer be available for download or updates on the App Store for users in the United States as of January 19, 2025,” the company wrote.
Although Donald Trump has signed an executive order protecting TikTok and its supporting partners from the ban for 75 days, several experts believe that the federal law will remain in force regardless of Trump’s executive order. The only exception is that TikTok can continue to operate in the U.S. if the newly elected president can prove to Congress (there is a Republican majority, so that won’t be an obstacle…) that the video uploading platform has severed its relationship with ByteDance and is now owned by a U.S. organization. These conditions have not been met at all so far. No wonder neither Apple nor Google have taken back TikTok, which is 60% owned by institutional investors such as BlackRock, General Atlantic and the Carlyle Group, with the founders and global employees holding 20-20%.
So we need a new (co-)owner here.
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