In a joint effort to address national security concerns, US lawmakers from the committee on China have written a bipartisan letter to the CEOs of Google-parent Alphabet and tech giant Apple. The letter, authored by Republican Representative John Moolenaar and Democratic Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, emphasizes the need for both companies to be prepared to remove the popular social media app TikTok from their US app stores by January 19.
The urgency stems from a recent federal appeals court decision upholding a law that mandates China-based ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, to divest the app in the US or face a ban. With over 170 million American users, TikTok has been a focal point of concerns related to data privacy and potential influence by the Chinese government.
The lawmakers also directed their message to TikTok's CEO, Shou Zi Chew, urging the company to promptly execute a qualified divestiture in compliance with US regulations. They highlighted Congress's swift actions aimed at safeguarding national security and protecting American users from potential Chinese Communist Party interference.
As the legal battle continues, ByteDance and TikTok have made an emergency bid to halt the law's implementation pending review by the US Supreme Court. The Department of Justice clarified that while the ban wouldn't immediately impact existing TikTok users on Apple and Google devices, the eventual withdrawal of support services could render the app non-functional.
TikTok responded by acknowledging the imminent removal from app stores and the subsequent unavailability to a significant portion of the US population. The company expressed concerns about the potential crippling effects of ending support services, which would render the platform essentially unusable within the country.
Amidst these developments, Republican Senator Josh Hawley highlighted the necessity for ByteDance to comply with the law and sell TikTok due to its connections to Chinese oversight. With the statutory requirements leaving little room for negotiation, the focus remains on addressing the underlying national security risks associated with TikTok's operations in the United States.