Trump gives relief to China, TikTok is back on Google and Apple's app stores

TikTok has returned to Apple and Google's app stores in the US, as President Donald Trump has temporarily postponed the decision to ban TikTok. The popular social media app, developed by Chinese company ByteDance, was removed from the app stores on January 18. The app was removed after a new US law was passed that obliged ByteDance to sell TikTok to a US business or face a ban.

TikTok has more than 17 crore US users. The company temporarily suspended its services a day ago in response to this ban. The service was restored later after President Trump issued a postponement of the ban. Meanwhile, many users, looking for an alternative to TikTok, created accounts on another Chinese social media app called RedNote and started calling themselves "TikTok refugees".

After almost a month, TikTok is again available for download on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store in the US. Trump signed an executive order on the first day of his term extending the TikTok ban deadline to April 5.

The US government has been worried about TikTok for a considerable period of time. The government is of the view that its Chinese owner would pose a threat to the security of American citizens' data. TikTok has denied such claims and stated that it never transmitted the data of American users to the government of China. The company has also claimed that the ban is a violation of freedom of speech in accordance with the US Constitution's First Amendment.