Apple, Google, and Oracle are still on the hook for as much as $850 billion for helping TikTok despite Trump’s executive order.
Just about everyone has forgotten that April 5th is an important date in the U.S. That is when President Donald Trump’s executive order telling the Justice Department not to enforce the law banning TikTok in the U.S. for 75 days expires. Trump could have followed the provision in the bill that allowed for a 90-day extension to allow TikTok owner ByteDance to divest the app, but instead he decided to sign the executive order.
Because the president decided to use an executive order to delay the TikTok ban instead of following the law and extending the deadline, he might have put Apple, Google, and Oracle on the hook to pay a liability that could be valued as high as $850 billion. Apple and Google could be fined for returning TikTok to their respective app stores and Oracle provides cloud services for the app. Apple and Google returned TikTok to the App Store and Play Store respectively on February 14th after both removed the app on January 19th prior to Trump’s inauguration and his executive order giving TikTok a 75 day « get out of jail card. »
Trump’s executive order told the DOJ not to prosecute TikTok or any company that helped it stay online during the 75 days. But it is not the same as making the app legal in the U.S. which is why Apple, Google, and Oracle still face that monstrous $850 billion liability.
On Monday, three Senate Democrats wrote a letter to President Trump. Senators Edward Markey (D-MA), Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) reminded the president about the temperature of the hot water that the three aforementioned American companies might find themselves in.
