US Congressman Urges Apple And Google To Remove TikTok From App Store On January 19

US Republican Congress and Party member John Moolenaar (photo: x @RiponAdvance)

JAKARTA The top Democratic chairman and member of the US House of Representatives committee on China on Friday December 13 urged Google ( Alphabet's address) and Apple to prepare to remove TikTok from their US app stores on January 19.

The move comes after last week, a US federal appeals court upheld a law requiring ByteDance, a Chinese company, to relinquish TikTok's holdings in the United States or face bans.

Member of Congress John Moolenaar, a Republican and committee chairman, and Democratic member King Krishna Moorthi urged TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew to immediately sell the short video application used by the 170 million Americans.

"Congress has acted decisively to maintain the national security of the United States and protect TikTok users from the Chinese Communist Party. We urge TikTok to immediately implement eligible divestment," the legislators wrote.

On Monday 9 December, ByteDance and TikTok filed an emergency request to postpone the law pending a review by the US Supreme Court.

The Justice Department (DOJ) stated on Wednesday December 11 that despite the ban on January 19, users who have downloaded TikTok can still use it. However, the ban includes technical support that will eventually render the app unusable.

TikTok on Thursday 12 December warned that the law, without a court order, would remove apps from app stores on January 19 and make them unavailable to half the country's population who have not used the app. "Stopping support services will cripple platforms in the United States and make them completely unusable," TikTok added.

Meanwhile, ByteDance and TikTok noted that President-elect Donald Trump had promised to prevent the ban on TikTok. However, Republican Senator Josh Hawley said that the law did not provide a gap.

"This law is clear," Hawley said. "The main problem is that TikTok is under Beijing's scrutiny, and that's a big deal."