TikTok to be dumped by Apple and Google next month, as instructed by House committee.

• The Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party wrote to Apple and Alphabet CEOs regarding their duties concerning TikTok.
• Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., upheld a law requiring ByteDance to divest TikTok by Jan. 19, as stated by the lawmakers.
• If ByteDance does not sell TikTok by the specified date, the lawmakers have stated that Apple and Google will be legally obligated to remove the app from their U.S. app stores.

Top executives of and are being urged by House Committee members to prepare for compliance with a law that may lead to a TikTok ban in the U.S. next month.

On Friday, representatives John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party sent letters to CEOs Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai of Apple and Google, respectively, reminding them of their duties as app store operators.

The lawmakers mentioned the recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., which upheld a law mandating ByteDance to divest TikTok by January 19. If ByteDance does not sell TikTok by that date, Apple and Google will be legally obligated to remove the TikTok app from their platforms in the U.S., as stated by the lawmakers.

The Act prohibits providing services to distribute, maintain, or update foreign adversary controlled applications, including their source code, through marketplaces that allow users in the United States to access, maintain, or update such applications.

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew received a letter from them, stating that since President Joe Biden signed the original TikTok law in April, Congress has given TikTok enough time to comply.

The lawmakers wrote that TikTok has been pursuing a solution to protect U.S. national security for 233 days and counting.

Despite TikTok's claim that the law is unconstitutional and infringes on the First Amendment rights of its 170 million users, a three-judge panel on the appeals court ruled that the law is narrowly tailored to safeguard national security.

TikTok has filed an emergency motion for an injunction to halt the ban from being implemented until the U.S. Supreme Court can hear its appeal. The company stated that a one-month ban in the U.S. would result in small businesses and social media creators losing $1.3 billion in sales and earnings.

When President-elect Donald Trump officially takes office on Jan. 20, he has not publicly stated whether he intends to enforce the effective TikTok ban.

In his first administration, Trump attempted to implement a ban on TikTok, but his stance on the issue shifted after he met with billionaire Jeff Yass, a Republican megadonor and a significant investor in the Chinese-owned social media app, in February.

In March, it was reported that Susquehanna International Group, owned by Yass, has a 15% stake in ByteDance, while Yass maintains a 7% stake, worth approximately $21 billion. Additionally, it was reported that Yass was a part-owner of the business that merged with the parent company of Trump's.

TikTok ban law upheld, Apple, Google, and TikTok did not respond to requests for comment.