US Senators Say Apple and Other Tech Firms Face Billions in Liability Due to TikTok Ban Delay
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Three United States senators have warned President Donald J. Trump that his TikTok ban delay is putting Apple and other tech firms at risk of liability, which could result in the firms paying out billions of dollars in penalties.
Not much action has been taken on the TikTok ban by the current presidential administration since President Trump ordered the ban deadline extended to April 5. As the deadline looms, lawmakers are now making noise about what may happen and how it could impact tech companies.
Senators Edward Markey (D-MA), Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) on Monday wrote a letter to the President, telling him that there could be massive costs related to how he has handled the delay.
To delay the ban, Trump issued an executive order instructing the US Department of Justice not to enforce the ban for 75 days.
The extension allowed Apple and Google to return the app to their stores. While both companies were initially hesitant to do so due to the potential liability issues, they relented after Attorney General Pam Bondi sent them a letter assuring them there would be no reprisals for distributing the TikTok app.
Still, while the executive order prevented TikTok and related companies from being prosecuted during the ban delay period, it stopped short of legalizing the app. This means that making the TikTok app available is still against the law, but the Justice Department simply won’t take action on the ban. Even Bondi’s letter to Apple and Google only stated that a ban wouldn’t immediately be enforced.
The letter claims Trump’s actions are “unlawful,” adding that it “raised serious questions about TikTok’s future, as the law imposes liability on companies for facilitating TikTok’s continued operations in the United States.”
The letter writers estimate the liability to Apple, Google, and other tech companies could be as much as $850 billion — $5,000 per user who downloads or updates the TikTok app multiplied by the 170 million TikTok users in the US. The penalties could be levied against Apple and Google as the app distributors, and Oracle, which provides the cloud services for TikTok.
The letter also noted that as the statute of limitations is five years, any administration that follows Trump into office could reverse any decision on the matter, which could cost the companies in question dearly.
Trump’s ban delay “will require Oracle, Apple, Google, and other companies to continue risking ruinous legal liability, a difficult decision to justify in perpetuity.”
The letter also warns that Trump’s proposition that Oracle make a deal to take a small stake in TikTok “would almost certainly not satisfy the Act’s requirements around a qualified divestiture.”
The letter writers urged Trump to work with Congress.
Democrat-introduced legislation, Senator Edward J. Markey’s Extend the TikTok Deadline Act, would push the deadline back to October 16, 2025, but it’s being blocked by Senate Republicans. The three authors of the letter told Trump he needs to convince Senate Republicans to vote for the legislation.
The letter also said the President should work with Congress to modify the Protecting Americans
from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, the original law that set this whole thing in motion last year, to ensure that a deal with Oracle or another company would prevent TikTok from going dark again.
“Regardless of your approach, the path to saving TikTok should run through Capitol Hill,” the letter said.
Time will only tell whether President Trump will reach out to the Democrats to make a deal on the TikTok situation. However, with less than two weeks to go until the April 5 deadline, there isn’t much time to pull anything off.
