TikTok was removed from Apple and Google’s app stores on Jan. 18 to comply with a law that requires ByteDance to divest the app or be banned in the U.S.

The law requires TikTok's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell its U.S. assets in order to continue operating in the U.S. While the law only mandated that ByteDance remove TikTok from app stores in the U.S. if it failed to meet the sale deadline, company executives decided to shut down the app entirely.