A New High-Tensor Tax Elimination Law: Why Apple and Google Can’t Count TikTok Apps That Aren’t
Less than a day after it went dark, TikTok is back online thanks to assurances that President-elect Donald Trump wouldn’t enforce a law banning the app.
The power of President Donald Trump might encourage some companies to take calculated risks. “It’s certainly in the interest of these companies to to curry favor with the new administration and I guess it’s conceivable that even $850 billion of liability exposure and even voluntarily violating a new federal law might be worth it to some companies,” Schettenhelm says. “But you would not typically think that’s a calculation that makes sense.”
Someone could challenge Trump in court if he tries to overrule Congress in a way that isn’t legal. Who might this be? The Chinese government may be able to get their data from TikTok users who supported the ban. The courts might say that TikTok isn’t a good idea. A competitor like Meta also might be able to bring a claim, he says. Or a service provider like Apple or Google could try to get a court to clarify their legal liability, without actually challenging the arrangement. But given tech companies’ attempts to avoid antagonizing Trump, that route seems unlikely.
Instead, the law puts pressure on Apple and Google to delete TikTok from their app stores, or risk accumulating millions of dollars in fines. The parent company of TikTok and other apps seemed to have removed them as of Saturday. Google and Apple did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The law also bans companies from providing data hosting services to TikTok. Oracle, which counts TikTok as one of its largest cloud computing customers, reportedly began telling staff to shut down servers that host US TikTok data on Saturday, according to The Information. Oracle did not immediately return a request for comment.
TikTok is Back in U.S. App Stores, But Not Back in the US: Reflecting the Violations of the First Amendment
“It’s a blatant violation of the First Amendment,” says Evelyn Douek, a professor at Stanford Law School who specializes in online speech issues. Everyone that matters will listen to what the Supreme Court justices have to say over mine. It’s hard to take the national security justification seriously, though, when in recent days presidents past and future as well as members of Congress seem to be backpedaling on whether an immediate shutdown is necessary after all.”
On Blind, an anonymous messaging app popular with tech workers, some TikTok employees spiraled about whether they’d have jobs next month, while others went about business as usual. “Anyone else’s manager still scheduling meetings next week about new, upcoming projects without acknowledging the ban whatsoever?” wrote one user. “I have 2025 strategy meetings next week,” another user responded. I’m doing what I’m told. It is comforting in a way.
TikTok, in addition to other ByteDance-owned apps, is still not back in US app stores as of publication. Several users have reported being able to access their timelines again after they were unavailable last night. Others had regained access to their accounts, but with varying degrees of functionality.
