Recent developments have put tech giants like Apple, T-Mobile, and Google at risk of facing significant civil penalties due to their involvement with TikTok. The situation dates back to the inauguration of Donald Trump for the second time and subsequent executive orders surrounding the potential ban of TikTok in the U.S.
With a bill signed into law by President Joe Biden in April 2024, TikTok owner ByteDance was given a deadline to sell the app. Despite multiple extensions of this deadline by Trump, the app remained in operation. Tech companies were then notified that they would not face consequences for keeping TikTok online, despite the legal implications.
Concerns have been raised about the legality of using executive orders to bypass laws, leading to potential liabilities as high as $850 billion for companies involved in facilitating TikTok's operations in the U.S. Apple and Google, in particular, made decisions to relist TikTok in their respective app stores, further complicating the situation.
Shareholders and stakeholders are closely monitoring the developments, as the future implications of these actions could have significant financial ramifications for the tech giants involved.
