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Trump's order creates legal uncertainty for TikTok and

tech

companies

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Service providers face potential liability despite

executive

order

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TikTok unavailable for download on Apple ( AAPL ) and Android

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Executive orders cannot overturn laws enacted by Congress

By Mike Scarcella

Jan 21 (Reuters) -

U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order to restore

access to TikTok has created a thicket of new legal questions

for the short-video platform, along with new tensions between

the White House, members of Congress who want the platform

banned, and tech companies caught in the middle.

Legal experts said despite Trump's order, service providers and

app distributors such as Google and Apple ( AAPL )

still face major uncertainty and potential massive financial

liability for defying a law that banned TikTok in the United

States unless Chinese parent ByteDance divested the company by

Jan. 19.

TikTok remained unavailable to download on Apple ( AAPL ) and Android

devices in the United States early Tuesday afternoon, after

Trump signed an executive order on Monday seeking to pause the

U.S. ban as one of his first acts as president.

The order directs the U.S. Justice Department to delay for 75

days any enforcement of the divestment law, passed by Congress

last year.

Trump also directed the U.S. attorney general to send a

letter to service providers such as app store hosts, saying

there has been no prior violation of the law, and would be no

liability during the review period.

University of Minnesota Law School professor Alan

Rozenshtein said in a post at the national security publication

Lawfare on Tuesday that the 75-day enforcement delay in Trump's

executive order "offers minimal security," however, since courts

do not see such promises as binding.

"Trump could change his mind at any time or selectively

enforce against companies that fall from political favor,"

Rozenshtein wrote.

Google declined to comment, and Apple ( AAPL ) did not immediately

respond to a request for one.

The divestment law, which Congress passed with overwhelming

bipartisan support amid national security concerns over Chinese

influence, was signed by President Joe Biden and upheld by a

unanimous U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 17.

It imposes a civil penalty on service providers of $5,000

per user for violations of the ban, creating billions of dollars

of potential legal exposure.

Executive orders cannot overturn laws enacted by Congress,

and lawmakers have sued in the past to enforce laws they have

passed. Legal experts said that even a hypothetical lawsuit from

both houses of Congress could be a long shot, however, since

courts might be inclined to see it as political question best

left for the legislature, or a national security matter that

falls under the White House's control.

The TikTok law does not lay out a right for private

individuals to enforce it. But shareholders could sue service

providers that cited Trump's order to ignore the ban.

"Shareholders of providers would have a valid case against

companies that rely on the EO," said cybersecurity and digital

privacy expert Timothy Edgar, who teaches at Brown University.

"It's a huge gamble they are taking, given the extraordinary

penalties the law provides."