Google Play’s Ongoing TikTok Downloads Spur Investor Lawsuit (1)

Alphabet Inc.'s leaders may have exposed it to significant legal risk by continuing to distribute TikTok through its Google Play app store, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday.

An investor sued the tech giant for documents, saying it was unwise to restore TikTok based solely on President Donald Trump’s executive order pledging not to enforce a ban on the Chinese-owned social media app. Google delisted TikTok in January, after the US Supreme Court upheld the federal law banning it, but restored it in February, about three weeks after Trump issued the order on the first day of his second term.

The move appears to put Alphabet at the mercy of a mercurial president, according to the filing in Delaware’s Chancery Court. “The first five months of the current administration’s term is already replete with examples of President Trump changing his mind,” the suit says.

Alphabet unit Google LLC didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

The court complaint seeks internal files under a statute giving investors broad access to corporate records to investigate potential corporate wrongdoing. Records cases often reflect an attempt to drum up fiduciary breach claims for future litigation.

The shareholder, Zhaocheng Anthony Tan, is represented by Berger McDermott LLP.

The case is Tan v. Alphabet Inc., Del. Ch., No. 2025-0649, complaint filed 6/10/25.