The popular video-sharing app TikTok was shut down in the US on Sunday briefly before it was reactivated after President-elect Doland Trump intervened. TikTok became unavailable to Americans after a law banning the app came into effect.
Starting Saturday night, TikTok users in the US began receiving a message titled “Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now.” “A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the US. Unfortunately, that means you can’t access TikTok for now.” The message continued, “We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office.”
In March, Biden signed a bill that ordered TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, to divest its shares from the company within six months or face an effective ban in the US. The deadline for ByteDance to sell TikTok was Sunday.
On Friday, SCOTUS ruled against TikTok’s argument that the ban violated the First Amendment, clearing the way for TikTok to become unavailable to Americans.
By Sunday afternoon, TikTok started to reactivate for its 170 million American users after Trump pledged to issue an executive order postponing the ban after he returned to office on Monday.
“I’m asking companies not to let TikTok stay dark! I will issue an executive order on Monday to extend the period of time before the law’s prohibitions take effect, so that we can make a deal to protect our national security.” Trump posted on Truth Social. “The order will also confirm that there will be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before my order.”
In a statement, TikTok thanked Trump for his intervention. “In agreement with our service providers, TikTok is in the process of restoring service.” It continued, “We thank President Trump for providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties providing TikTok to over 170 million Americans and allowing over 7 million small businesses to thrive.”
On Friday, President-elect Trump spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping. He described the call as “very good” and said they discussed a range of issues, including TikTok.
In his post on Truth Social Trump explained he wanted a 50% US ownership of TikTok. “I would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture. By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands and allow it to stay up. Without U.S. approval, there is no Tik Tok,” he wrote. “With our approval, it is worth hundreds of billions of dollars – maybe trillions.”
The TikTok ban passed in March after the bill had failed to gain political momentum for years. The bill only gained the necessary support on Capitol Hill to pass after the content shared on TikTok became overwhelmingly pro-Palestinian.
