By George Glover

Oracle appears to be gambling that Donald Trump will make good on his promise to save TikTok -- but Apple and Google parent Alphabet are taking a more cautious approach to their first dilemma under the new administration.

The tech companies still hadn't made TikTok available on their app stores early Monday, suggesting they were more worried about risking billions of dollars in fines, which would in turn hurt the stocks, than keeping Trump happy.

In a post on Truth Social on Jan. 19, Trump said that he would issue an executive order Monday to extend the time before the law banning TikTok takes effect. He added that "there will be no liability" for any tech company that stops the social-media app from going dark.

Shortly after, TikTok restored service in the U.S., with users getting a "Welcome back!" message saying the app had returned "as a result of President Trump's efforts." That suggests service providers like Oracle and Akamai Technologies took Trump at his word.

But as of early Monday, TikTok still wasn't available to download on the App Store or Google Play, suggesting that Apple and Google may have taken a more cautious approach. Apple said in a statement on Sunday that it was "obligated to follow the laws in the jurisdictions where it operates."

Oracle, Akamai, Apple, and Google didn't immediately respond to a Barron's request for comment.

It's possible that the tech giants don't think it's worth taking the legal risk. Executive orders aren't legislation, and Congress has the ability to overturn the directives.

Under the terms of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which the Supreme Court upheld Friday, web hosting services and app stores will be subject to civil penalties of up to $5,000 per person who accesses TikTok via their service. The app has 170 million users in the U.S. -- so that means in theory the tech companies risk incurring $850 billion worth of fines.

The flip-side is there's a risk that Apple and Google could jeopardize their relationship with Trump by letting TikTok go dark. Tech executives have been bidding to court Trump's favor ever since his landslide election victory in November, and both Apple CEO Tim Cook and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai are set to attend the President-elect's inauguration Monday.

Before the billionaire businessman has even returned to the White House, the tech companies face their first big choice of Trump 2.0.

Write to George Glover at george.glover@dowjones.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

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January 20, 2025 06:05 ET (11:05 GMT)

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