U.S. Appeals Court Allows Trump Administration to Enforce Medicaid Funding Ban on Planned Parenthood 
Bolsonaro Undergoes Second Medical Procedure for Persistent Hiccups While Hospitalized in Brasilia 
Nvidia Appoints Former Google Executive Alison Wagonfeld as First Chief Marketing Officer 
AMD Unveils Next-Generation AI and PC Chips at CES, Highlights Major OpenAI Partnership 
Baidu’s AI Chip Unit Kunlunxin Prepares for Hong Kong IPO to Raise Up to $2 Billion 
Samsung Electronics Poised for Massive Q4 Profit Surge on Soaring Memory Chip Prices 
DOJ Releases New Epstein Files Detailing Alleged Trump Flights on Private Jet 
Bolsonaro Discharged From Hospital and Transferred to Prison After Medical Treatment 
NASA and SpaceX Target Crew-11 Undocking From ISS Amid Medical Concern 
Warner Bros. Discovery Shares Slide Amid Report of Potential Paramount Skydance Lawsuit 
Discord Confidentially Files for U.S. IPO, Signaling Major Milestone 
Hyundai Motor Shares Surge on Nvidia Partnership Speculation 
FCC Approves Expansion of SpaceX Starlink Network With 7,500 New Satellites 
Bolsonaro Endorses Son Flavio for Brazil’s 2026 Presidential Election From Hospital 
Najib Razak Jailed 15 More Years in Landmark 1MDB Verdict With Major Political Impact 
Lenovo Unveils AI Cloud Gigafactory With NVIDIA and Launches New AI Platform at CES 2026 
Ford Targets Level 3 Autonomous Driving by 2028 with New EV Platform and AI Innovations 
U.S. lawmakers are pressing Apple and Google to prepare for TikTok's removal from app stores by January 19. The demand follows a court ruling mandating ByteDance divest the app, citing national security concerns and its links to Chinese oversight.
Lawmakers Urge TikTok’s Removal Amid National Security Fears
Google parent Alphabet and Apple CEOs were advised by the chair and senior Democrat of a U.S. House committee on China that they need to be prepared to remove TikTok from their U.S. app stores on January 19th, Reuters reports.
A federal appeals court in the United States affirmed last week a statute that threatened to prohibit ByteDance, a Chinese company, unless it divested itself of TikTok in the US. Separately, Republican committee chair John Moolenaar and top Democrat on the panel, Raja Krishnamoorthi, asked TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew to sell the app that 170 million Americans use to watch short videos.
"Congress has acted decisively to defend the national security of the United States and protect TikTok’s American users from the Chinese Communist Party. We urge TikTok to immediately execute a qualified divestiture," the lawmakers added.
There was an instant lack of comment from Apple, Alphabet, and TikTok. On Monday, ByteDance and TikTok hurriedly sought to halt the statute until the United States Supreme Court could examine it.
DOJ Clarifies TikTok Ban’s Impact on Current Users
On Wednesday, the Department of Justice asserted that, should the ban go into force on January 19, it will "not directly prohibit the continued use of TikTok" for Apple or Google users who have previously installed the app. However, it did not deny that the limitations on offering assistance "will eventually be to render the application unworkable."
The video-sharing platform TikTok responded on Thursday by stating that, without a court ruling, the app will be removed from app stores on January 19 and will "be unavailable to the half of the country that does not already use the app." Apparently, cutting off support services will "cripple the platform in the United States and make it totally unusable."
Per Investing.com, the incoming president, Donald Trump, has promised not to prohibit TikTok, according to ByteDance and the video sharing platform.
ByteDance Faces Tight Deadline for TikTok Divestiture
The legislation does not provide for any wriggle space, according to Republican Senator Josh Hawley, who expressed his hope in an interview that ByteDance will sell TikTok. "The statute is what the statute is," Hawley stated. "The main issue is it's subject to Chinese oversight, Beijing oversight - that's the problem."
