Apple and Google Restore TikTok to App Stores in the U.S.

Apple and Google restored TikTok to their U.S. app stores on Thursday evening, several weeks after they removed the Chinese-owned video platform to comply with a new law that banned it in the country.

Last month, President Trump tried to pause enforcement of the TikTok ban with an executive order. But Apple and Google were reluctant to bring TikTok back until they were certain they were not breaking the law.

Apple and Google had recently received letters from the Justice Department assuring them that they would not face fines for carrying TikTok in their app stores, said two people with knowledge of the communications, who were not authorized to speak publicly. The executive order that Mr. Trump signed last month asked that “written guidance” be sent.

The law, signed last year by President Joseph R. Biden, had called for TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to sell the app to a non-Chinese owner by Jan. 19. Federal lawmakers were concerned that TikTok’s Chinese ties made it a national security threat. The law targeted app store operators and internet hosting companies with steep financial penalties if they distributed or maintained TikTok.

Mr. Trump’s executive order, which told the Justice Department to refrain from enforcing the law for 75 days while his administration pursued a resolution, prompted confusion among technology companies. While Apple and Google kept TikTok out of their app stores, companies like Oracle, which provided back-end technology support for the app, resumed working with it after a brief shutdown in January.

Apple and Google did not comment beyond saying they had reinstated the app. TikTok and a spokesman for the Justice Department declined to comment.