Apple, Google remove TikTok from US app stores as ban starts

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(Bloomberg) — Apple Inc. and Google removed TikTok from their mobile app stores in the US as required by a law that took effect Sunday, after the social media company’s legal challenges failed to head off the measure passed last year to address national security concerns.

Their moves followed TikTok’s decision to proactively suspend its services to US-based users a few hours earlier when it took its platform offline. Apple said it’s obligated to follow the laws in jurisdictions where it operates, while Google didn’t respond to a request for comment outside of regular business hours.

The law, signed in April by President Joe Biden, ordered TikTok’s China-based parent company ByteDance Ltd. to divest its US business, which ByteDance refused to do, or face a shutdown. American companies that host or distribute TikTok in the US are now obligated to cease doing so, or risk fines potentially in the billions of dollars.

The law doesn’t cite US firms by name, but says it would be unlawful for “an entity,” “marketplace” like a mobile app store, or “internet hosting services to enable the distribution, maintenance, or updating” of TikTok and other ByteDance products. That’s forced Apple and Alphabet Inc.’s Google to wipe TikTok from their US app stores.

Companies found in violation could face enormous penalties determined by “multiplying $5,000 by the number of users,” according to the law. In a country where more than half the population is on TikTok — the app claims 170 million monthly US users — those fines could add up quickly.

Apple also removed other apps developed by ByteDance and its subsidiaries including CapCut, Lemon8 and Lark, a Slack-like productivity app.

President-elect Donald Trump said Saturday he would “most likely” give TikTok a 90-day reprieve from the law, providing Bytedance more time to find a buyer. Trump also told NBC in an exclusive interview that he’d probably announce it on Monday, after he is sworn in.