Apple and Google must prepare to remove TikTok from app stores by Jan. 19, lawmakers warn

Google-parent Alphabet and Apple must be ready to remove TikTok from their U.S. app stores on January 19, two US lawmakers said in a letter to the companies’ CEOs Friday. The bipartisan letter came from two leaders of the US House of Representatives’ committee on China: Republican Representative John Moolenaar, who is the committee’s chair, and the group’s top Democrat Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi.

Last week, a U.S. federal appeals court upheld a law requiring China-based ByteDance to divest TikTok in the United States or face a ban. The app is used by 170 million Americans.

Separately, Moolenaar and Krishnamoorthi also urged TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew to sell the app: “Congress has acted decisively to defend the national security of the United States and protect TikTok’s American users from the Chinese Communist Party,” the lawmakers wrote. “We urge TikTok to immediately execute a qualified divestiture.”

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