TikTok Restored to US App Stores Amid Legal Concerns

TikTok has been restored to the Apple App Store and Google Play in the U.S. after a brief outage due to a law banning the app. The restoration followed assurances from President Trump that Apple and Google would not face legal repercussions for supporting TikTok, which had been removed in January due to concerns over its Chinese ownership by ByteDance. Despite the app being allowed back, the underlying legislation banning it remains paused, and there are ongoing negotiations about a potential sale of TikTok's U.S. operations to a domestic company. Trump's administration indicated it might extend the deadline for ByteDance to divest TikTok, which had initially been set for January 19. Legal experts have expressed concerns that the assurances provided may not fully protect Apple and Google from potential violations of U.S. law. Lawmakers continue to voice fears about the security risks posed by the app's ties to China, especially regarding user data and political influence.