Apple and Google restored TikTok to their app stores last week.

Late last week, TikTok returned to Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store, after the two tech giants received letters from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, assuring the companies the Department of Justice would not enforce a ban passed by Congress last year.

But behind the scenes, the process was more complicated.

Apple and Google were unable to comply with the DOJ’s letter, necessitating the drafting of a second version they could comply with, two people with knowledge of the communications who were not authorized to speak publicly told Forbes. These people described the first letter, which did not come from Bondi, as legally insufficient. The second letter, which did come from her, resolved that issue, convincing the companies they would not be held liable for violating the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA) by reinstating TikTok to their app stores.

The letters were the result of an executive order President........

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