TikTok restores US service after Trump remarks on ban
January 19, 2025
On Sunday, incoming US President Donald Trump said he would issue an executive order delaying a ban on TikTok as soon as he is sworn in on Monday.
Trump's comments came after the app went dark in the US ahead of a federal ban recently upheld by the US Supreme Court.
Trump: Companies must not 'let TikTok stay dark'
"I'm asking companies not to let TikTok stay dark," Trump wrote on his own social media platform Truth Social. "Americans deserve to see our exciting inauguration on Monday as well as other events and conversations."
In response to Trump's comments, TikTok said it would restore service in the US, and thanked the president-elect 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."
Trump, who called for a similar ban in the past, also floated the idea of a US-China joint venture ownership deal but offered no details.
The president-elect reportedly said he would not be opposed to continued Chinese ownership of the app as long as steps were taken to ensure US user used data was protected and stored in the US, according to incoming National Security Advisor Mike Waltz.
Waltz said Trump needed time to familiarize himself with details and to evaluate proposed buyers, hence the desire for a delay.
Mixed messages from Washington as Trump prepares to take power
Though Waltz and Trump spoke of "good talks" with Chinese leadership over the issue, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson struck a different tone, saying he thought the incoming president would, "try to force along a true divestiture, changing of hands, the ownership."
"It's not the platform that members of Congress were concerned about," said Johnson, "It's the Chinese Communist Party."
Speaking on Sunday, Waltz made clear that "every company in China has some connection to the Chinese Communist Party."
Other Republicans, such as Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Chair Tom Cotton, have gone on the record saying, "there's no legal basis for any kind of 'extension' of its (ban's) effective date."
TikTok tells users 'you can't use' app because of US goverment
TikTok earlier stopped working for users in the United States on Sunday and became unavailable at prominent app stores just before a federal law banning it in the country took effect.
"A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the US," said a message to users attempting to use the app. "Unfortunately, that means you can't use TikTok for now."
App stores pulled the popular short-form video platform from the US market. It is no longer available on Google App store, Apple store or TikTok.com.
The app shutdown in the US took place after the company warned its users late Saturday that the app would soon become "temporarily unavailable" as a law banning it in the country was set to get implemented.
The app stores cannot allow the platform to stay available under a federal law that required TikTok's China-based parent company, ByteDance, to sell the platform or face a US ban.
Even if short-lived, the ban is expected to significantly impact US-China relations.
mfi/sms (AFP, Reuters)