The US Justice Department has shared the letters that they sent to the likes of Apple and Google which talked about the TikTok Ban earlier this year. These letters informed the companies that they would not be held liable for allowing TikTok to continue operating.
President Donald J. Trump and his administration supported TikTok and promised the company that it would not be banned in the US.
TikTok took a sharp blow thanks to the Foreign Adversary Act, which highlighted it as an application controlled by foreign operators and could be a national security threat to the US and its citizens.
US Justice Letters Sent to Apple, Google
Engadget reported that the letters that the US Justice Department sent to app marketplace operators and other platforms to allow TikTok to operate in the country have been publicized for the world to see.
Among those that received this were Apple, Google, Amazon, Oracle, Microsoft, and more, and these letters told them to ignore the TikTok ban and allow the platform to continue operating in the US.
These letters were publicized through a Freedom of Information Act request made by Anthony Tan, a software engineer and Google shareholder who sued the tech company for not adhering to the ban.
Attorney General Pam Bondi penned the letter and told the likes of Apple and Google that the ban "would interfere" with President Trump's "constitutional duties" on US national safety. The letter also assured these companies that they would not incur "any liabilities."
Following the January 19 deadline, TikTok faced a short ban in the United States before being reinstated several hours later. This was because of Trump and the Justice Department's interference that heavily favored the social media platform.
Finding TikTok a Buyer
President Trump could not effectively save TikTok from the law, and the best thing he could do was to extend the deadline for the Chinese social media to find a buyer for 75 days. The first one saw an April deadline, but at this time, there were no chosen buyers yet. This led to the second sale extension from the US President.
The last deadline gave TikTok, ByteDance, and China until June 19 to finalize a deal, but as it also came and went, they were not able to come up with a deal, and another extension was given.
More than a week since the last extension, President Trump revealed that he had already found a group willing to buy TikTok and continue its operations in the United States but has yet to unveil who is behind it.
Additionally, it still needs to ask for China's approval on the sale before any move can be made to finalize the sale of the platform.
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