TikTok available for download on Apple and Google app stores after US ban delay

TikTok has returned to Apple and Google's app stores in the United States as an impending ban on the short-form video app was delayed.

It comes after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order at the end of January delaying enforcement of the ban for 75 days.

TikTok, which is operated by Chinese technology firm ByteDance, was removed from Apple and Google’s app stores on January 18 to comply with a law that requires ByteDance to divest the app or be banned in the country.

The popular social media app has over 170 million American users and previously suspended its services in the US for a day before restoring service following assurances from Trump that he would postpone banning the app.

The TikTok service suspension briefly prompted thousands of users to migrate to RedNote, a Chinese social media app, while calling themselves "TikTok refugees".

The TikTok app became available to download again in the US Apple app store and Google Play store after nearly a month.

TikTok has long faced troubles in the US, with lawmakers claiming that its Chinese ownership and access to the data of millions of Americans makes it a national security risk.

TikTok has denied allegations that it has shared US user data at the behest of the Chinese government and argued that the law requiring it to be divested or banned violates the First Amendment rights of its US users.