The top Republican and Democratic lawmakers on the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the U.S. and China wrote to the CEOs of TikTok, Apple and Google on Friday warning them to prepare for a potential ban next month of the ultra-popular social media app TikTok. 

What You Need To Know

  • The top Republican and Democratic lawmakers on the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the U.S. and China wrote to the CEOs of TikTok, Apple and Google on Friday warning them to prepare for a potential ban next month of TikTok
  • The letter comes exactly one week after a federal appeals court denied TikTok's petition to overturn a law passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden in April last year that requires the app to break ties with its China-based parent company, ByteDance, or be banned in the U.S. by Jan. 19
  • In a letter to TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, Reps. John Moolenaar, R-Mich.,and Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., urged the company to “immediately execute a qualified divestiture” to come into compliance with the law
  • In separate letters to Apple’s Tim Cook and Google’s Sundar Pichai, Moolenaar and Krishnamoorthi reminded the CEOs that a ban would make it illegal for their companies to offer TikTok in their app stores in the U.S. starting Jan. 19

The letter comes exactly one week after a federal appeals court denied TikTok's petition to overturn a law passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden in April last year that requires the app to break ties with its China-based parent company, ByteDance, or be banned in the U.S. by Jan. 19. 

In a letter to TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, Reps. John Moolenaar, R-Mich.,and Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., urged the company to “immediately execute a qualified divestiture” to come into compliance with the law, arguing it has had “ample time” – 233 days, to be exact – to work out a deal to avoid a ban in the U.S.

“Congress has acted decisively to defend the national security of the United States and protect TikTok’s American users from the Chinese Communist Party,” the lawmakers wrote. “We urge TikTok to immediately execute a qualified divestiture.”

In separate letters to Apple’s Tim Cook and Google’s Sundar Pichai, meanwhile, Moolenaar and Krishnamoorthi cited last week’s court decision that found the potential ban constitutional and noted that, unless a qualified sale happens in the next six weeks, the platform will “effectively be unavailable” in the U.S. 

The lawmakers reminded the CEOs that such a ban would make it illegal for their companies to offer TikTok in their app stores in the U.S., adding they "must take the necessary steps to ensure it can fully comply with this requirement by January 19, 2025.”

TikTok has more than 170 million American users who would be affected by a ban, the companies have said.

On Monday, TikTok asked a federal appeals court to bar the Biden administration from enforcing the law that could lead to a ban until the Supreme Court reviews its challenge to the statute.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.