Pretty sure they’re in the clear to keep the service up, but Apple or Google legally can’t offer it for download
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TikTok is Working Again in the U.S., But Still Removed From App Store
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No, free speech literally means the government can’t throw you in jail for what you say. If you can post the exact same video on YouTube, then your free speech rights haven’t been abridged.
Spirit or the law and letter of the law.
My speech should be mine, and where I choose to voice it should be mine. Individual services should be able to decide if they want to host or carry what I have to say, and I should be able to decide which host to post it to, without interference but the government.
All of this is beside the point anyway. The only reason this happened is because Musk and Zuckerberg were getting nervous.
Additional disclaimer: I don't use TikTok, mastodon, blue sky, X (or ever used twitter).. I've never posted on YouTube, either.
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Last I knew, Donald Trump is not (yet) the President of the United States and at this point in time (January 19, 5:15 PM Eastern Standard Time) therefore he does not yet have any authority to do anything with regard to the whole TikTok mess.
Well, that didn't last long. Less than a day after TikTok became temporarily unavailable in the U.S., the app is now functional again. In an in-app notice, TikTok says the app has been restored "as a result of President Trump's efforts."
Last year, the U.S. passed a law that required Chinese company ByteDance to divest its ownership of TikTok due to potential national security risks, or else the social media platform would be banned. That law went into effect today. TikTok is still owned by ByteDance, so Apple removed the app from the App Store in the U.S., pursuant to the law.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump today said that he "will issue an executive order on Monday" that allows for more time before the U.S. law banning TikTok is enforced. Trump said the order will "also confirm that there will be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before my order."
Trump will be sworn in as the 47th U.S. President on Monday, and Apple CEO Tim Cook reportedly plans to attend the inauguration.
Based on Trump's promise, Apple might be safe to restore availability of the TikTok app on the App Store in the U.S., after pulling it on late Saturday. Apple has yet to re-list the app, however, and it may still be deciding on its next step. Apple potentially faced billions of dollars in fines had it kept TikTok available in the App Store in the U.S., so it is obviously navigating this situation extremely carefully due to the risks.
In a support document published today, Apple said it is "obligated to follow the laws in the jurisdictions where it operates."
"Pursuant to the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, apps developed by ByteDance Ltd. and its subsidiaries — including TikTok, CapCut, Lemon8, and others — will no longer be available for download or updates on the App Store for users in the United States starting January 19, 2025," wrote Apple.
The outgoing White House administration declined to intervene.
TikTok remains available in the App Store in other countries.
Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
Article Link: TikTok is Working Again in the U.S., But Still Removed From App Store
Interesting that nonetheless the China-based Bytedance / TikTok folks are already enthusiastically referring to him as "President Trump" while busily reactivating their app/site here in the US, even though at this current time, this particular ban of such operations in the United States is actually still legally in effect and Donald Trump has no control over it at all, nor right now is he the current President of the United States.
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You can’t say that out loud. You have to blame Biden for everything!!
Definitely! First day in office and his supporters are already praising him for saving free speech. Lmao.
Yes, but an identical service owned by the same company is allowed. They just don’t want our western values corrupting Chinese citizens.
You can’t yell fire in a crowded theater.
The executive branch is in charge of enforcement. They can choose to be lenient, give warnings, etc. for ANY violation of the law. Giving a 90 day compliance/notice of enforcement is not unheard of.
As a foreign entity, TikTok doesn’t have constitutional protections.
The executive branch can be held in contempt for not enforcing the law. There is little chance that will happen, but it technically could.
Dear MacRumors, please implement optional geo filters for political articles so those of us residing in the US don’t see chatter from irrelevant users.
Would you rather all power concentrate in the nine Supreme Court justices? Nine is a bigger number! Sounds like someone doesn’t understand checks and balances.
He did give them an ultimatum though I guess it worked
Trump warns ‘all hell will break out’ if Gaza hostages aren’t released before his inauguration | CNN Politics
President-elect Donald Trump warned that if the hostages whom Hamas is still holding in Gaza are not released by his inauguration on January 20, “all hell will break out in the Middle East” – offering one more stark indication of how much the incoming president would prefer to avoid inheriting...
www.cnn.com
As well he should considering the senile fool leaving the WH today did absolutely nothing to rescue the hostages and tried every way possible to hamstring Israel.
Trump started the ban and now takes merit for its postponement? Jeez the majority of Americans (or at least of those who voted) really isn’t paying much attention if they believe this guy’s pathetic lies.
Can he even do that? It seems wild that a president can issue an executive order contrary to a bill Congress passed, unless the bill gives the president that power?
He did very little to hamstring Israel, had he been more assertive maybe Israel wouldn’t have committed such atrocities to the point were its leader is under international arrest warrant for genocide and war crimes. The us should have applied the same sanctions it had rightfully applied against Russia (no trade and certainly no weapons) and things would be far better now. But sadly Biden was too soft and trump will be even worse.
Dicktator Trump learned how to apply the orange makeup on TikTok; how to look 80 instead of 90.
One of the very few things Biden got right, I am very disappointed in Trump saving TikTok.