A day after President Donald Trump signed an executive order delaying the enforcement of a TikTok ban by 75 days, the Chinese-owned short-video app remained unavailable on Apple and Google app stores in the US as of Tuesday.
The executive order signed on Saturday amid growing concerns over national security temporarily postpones the requirement for ByteDance, the parent company of the app TikTok, to divest its US operations. The app went dark Saturday, just before a law was about to go into effect on Sunday that would force ByteDance to sell TikTok or face a ban.
The app has not returned to the stores even after the assurance from Trump that the company and its partners would not receive hefty fines for the ban, which penalizes companies for hosting or distributing it. Analysts argue that Apple and Google are awaiting further legal protections before allowing the app to bypass the ban.
Apple’s App Store stated, “TikTok and other ByteDance apps are not available in the country or region you’re in,” while Google Play displayed a message that said, “Downloads for this app are paused due to current US legal requirements.” Neither Google, Apple, nor TikTok responded to requests for comment.
He reported on CNBC to have suspended the bid to purchase TikTok when former US Secretary of Treasury, Steven Mnuchin, complained he felt China was reluctant to negotiate while still showing intent to invest on the condition he would take his technology away entirely from ByteDance.
Mnuchin described TikTok as a “terrific business” and referred to plans to rebuild its technology. Bill Ford, CEO of TikTok investor General Atlantic, said that changes to the ownership of TikTok in the United States may not be required to be sold, stating that the company behind the app is already 60% owned by non-Chinese shareholders.
The ownership structure at ByteDance is 60% institutional investors such as BlackRock and General Atlantic, and the rest by its founders and employees.
