TikTok restores US service following intervention from President-elect Trump – News

TikTok services were being restored to users in the U.S. Sunday afternoon following a promise from President-elect Trump after the service went dark Saturday.

The Chinese-owned social media service had been late Saturday following the implementation of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act.

The ban, which extended to all apps owned by TikTok’s parent company ByteDance, went into effect Saturday evening despite multiple attempts to pause the ban until the new administration was sworn in, including Supreme Court challenges that were supported by Trump, various members of Congress and advocacy groups.

Following the implementation of the ban, TikTok users in the U.S. trying to obtain access to the service were presented with a message that stated, “Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now.” After a paragraph about the law, the service added that “we are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to restore TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned!”

Trump doesn’t take office until Monday, but with his promises of an executive order and support for TikTok on day one, a call was made to start restoring the service on Sunday afternoon. The official TikTok Policy page on X Inc. (formerly Twitter) announced that “in agreement with our service providers, TikTok is in the process of restoring service.”

“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,” the tweet added. “It’s a strong stand for the First Amendment and against arbitrary censorship. We will work with President Trump on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States.”

“Service providers,” however, are seemingly limited, at least right now. So far, Oracle Corp., which hosts TikTok servers in the U.S., is on board and assisting. However, both Google LLC and Apple Inc. have not restored TikTok and other Bytedance-owned apps to their respective stores as yet and appear to be waiting for an executive order from soon-to-be President Trump once he is sworn in on Monday.

While TikTok is being restored, the actual law that banned it is still on the books, and what exactly happens next, outside a possible stay of execution, so to speak, is not entirely clear.

Reuters reported that Trump has said that he would “extend the period of time before the law’s prohibitions take effect so that we can make a deal to protect our national security” before adding that “I would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture.”

Trump hasn’t always been a TikTok fan and, when previously in office, tried to have the app either banned or forcibly sold, with a potential deal with Oracle and Walmart Inc. nearly coming to fruition. Given Trump’s more recent statement that he would like to see some American ownership of TikTok in the U.S., a new deal may be forthcoming to ally national security fears.

Potential buyers for TikTok in the U.S. are also waiting in the wings. Artificial intelligence search provider Perplexity AI Inc. reportedly tendered a bid for a piece of TikTok on Saturday. The proposal would see Perplexity merging with TikTok U.S. and would allow for most of ByteDance’s existing investors to retain their equity stakes, according to CNBC.

Perhaps not as serious a buyer, popular YouTuber MrBeast also claimed that he was interested in buying TikTok, enough to make media headlines.

Should part of the compromise to keep TikTok alive in the U.S. include partial divestiture of its U.S. operations, far more serious players than a YouTube star with problems and an AI search company are likely to be interested.

Image: News/Ideogram