TikTok returns to Apple, Google app stores
Beata Zawrzel | Nurphoto | Getty Images
TikTok returned to the Apple and Google app stores Thursday evening.
The Chinese-owned social media app had been removed from the the two stores on Jan. 18, moments after TikTok’s leadership temporarily halted service in the U.S. in response to a national security law that went into effect the next day.
Nearly a month later, TikTok is once again available for download in the Apple App Store and Google Play.
Internet service providers like Apple, Google and Oracle could have incurred harsh penalties for violating the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. That law, which former President Joe Biden signed in April required China-based ByteDance to divest its TikTok U.S. operations by Jan. 19 or face an effective ban of the app in the country.
TikTok has argued that the law violates the First Amendment rights of its over 170 million U.S. users, while the U.S. government made the case that ByteDance’s ownership and its alleged ties to the People’s Republic of China make the app a national security risk. The Supreme Court sided with the Biden administration in January, and, in an opinion, said, “Congress has determined that divestiture is necessary to address its well-supported national security concerns regarding TikTok’s data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary.”
TikTok pushed back on the Supreme Court’s decision, and followed through with its threat to shut down its U.S. operations unless the Biden administration intervened.
The app came back online after President Donald Trump said he would postpone enforcement of the ban. He signed an executive order on his first day in office to extend the law’s deadline by an additional 75 days to April 5.
Trump said on his Truth Social platform that he “would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture” in order to “save TikTok, keep it in good hands and allow it to say up.”
Despite being removed from the two app stores for nearly a month, TikTok had recovered about 90% of the traffic it was seeing prior to the law’s Jan. 19 deadline, CNBC reported in late January, citing data from Cloudflare Radar.
Watch: We are the only TikTok bidder that meets the SCOTUS’ criteria, says Project Liberty’s Frank McCourt
CEO of Palantir Technologies Alex Karp attends the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit, at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S., July 15, 2025.
Nathan Howard | Reuters
It’s been a tough November for Palantir.
Shares of the software analytics provider dropped 16% for their worst month since August 2023 as investors dumped AI stocks due to valuation fears. Meanwhile, famed investor Michael Burry doubled down on the artificial intelligence trade and bet against the company.
Palantir started November off on a high note.
The Denver-based company topped Wall Street’s third-quarter earnings and revenue expectations. Palantir also posted its second-straight $1 billion revenue quarter, but high valuation concerns contributed to a post-print selloff.
In a note to clients, Jefferies analysts called Palantir’s valuation “extreme” and argued investors would find better risk-reward in AI names such as Microsoft and Snowflake. Analysts at RBC Capital Markets raised concerns about the company’s “increasingly concentrated growth profile,” while Deutsche Bank called the valuation “very difficult to wrap our heads around.”
Adding fuel to the post-earnings selloff was the revelation that Burry is betting against Palantir and AI chipmaker Nvidia. Burry, who is widely known for predicting the housing crisis that occurred in 2008 and the portrayal of him in the film “The Big Short,” later accused hyperscalers of artificially boosting earnings.
Palantir CEO Alex Karp vocally hit the front lines, appearing twice in one week on CNBC, where he accused Burry of “market manipulation” and called the investor’s actions “egregious.”
“The idea that chips and ontology is what you want to short is bats— crazy,” Karp told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
Despite the vicious selloff, Palantir has notched some deal wins this month. That included a multiyear contract with consulting firm PwC to speed up AI adoption in the U.K. and a deal with aircraft engine maintenance company FTAI.
But those announcements did little to shake off valuation worries that have haunted all AI-tied companies in November.
Across the board, investors have viciously ditched the high-priced group, citing fears of stretched valuations and a bubble.
In November, Nvidia pulled back more than 12%, while Microsoft and Amazon dropped about 5% each. Quantum computing names such as Rigetti Computing and D-Wave Quantum have shed more than a third of their value.
Apple and Alphabet were the only Magnificent 7 stocks to end the month with gains.
Sill, questions linger over Palantir’s valuation, and those worries aren’t a new concern.
Even after its steep price drop, the company’s stock trades at 233 times forward earnings. By comparison, Nvidia and Alphabet traded at about 38 times and 30 times, respectively, at Friday’s close.
Karp, who has long defended the company, didn’t miss an opportunity to clap back at his critics, arguing in a letter to shareholders that the company is making it feasible for everyday investors to attain rates of return once “limited to the most successful venture capitalists in Palo Alto.”
“Please turn on the conventional television and see how unhappy those that didn’t invest in us are,” Karp said during an earnings call. “Enjoy, get some popcorn. They’re crying. We are every day making this company better, and we’re doing it for this nation, for allied countries.”
Palantir declined to comment for this story.
WATCH: Palantir CEO Alex Karp: We’ve printed venture results for the average American
-
Sports2 years agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports3 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Sports3 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment3 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment1 year agoHere are the best electric bikes you can buy at every price level in October 2024