Less than 24 hours after going darkish, TikTok says it has come back online after President-elect Donald Trump gave the corporate’s service suppliers—presumably Apple, Google, and Oracle—reassurance that his administration wouldn’t implement a regulation banning the app within the first place.
“In settlement with our service suppliers, TikTok is within the technique of restoring service,” the corporate wrote in a press release. “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. 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.”
It’s the latest salvo in the dramatic fight over TikTok’s future in the US. Last year, Congress passed a law that required ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese parent company, to divest its US operations or face a ban starting January 19. TikTok sued on First Amendment grounds but lost at the Supreme Court. Last night, Apple and Google took the app out of their respective app stores, as well as many other apps developed by ByteDance. Oracle reportedly told employees to shut down servers that hosted TikTok US data, according to The Information.
The move set the stage for President-elect Trump, who’d tried to ban TikTok when he was in office, to save the app before he is sworn in as President. “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,” he wrote on Truth Social Sunday morning. “The order will also confirm that there will be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before my order.”
Technically, the regulation solely permits Trump to increase the enforcement deadline if ByteDance makes actual progress on a deal to divest its US operations. Among these whose names have been floated as potential acquirers: Elon Musk and fellow billionaire Frank McCourt. While McCourt made an official bid, Musk’s identify was reportedly floated in discussions with the Chinese authorities, in accordance with Bloomberg. “I would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands and allow it to say up. Without U.S. approval, there is no Tik Tok. With our approval, it is worth hundreds of billions of dollars – maybe trillions.”
TikTok, along with different ByteDance-owned apps, remains to be not again in US app shops as of publication. But a number of customers have reported with the ability to entry their timelines once more after they have been listed as unavailable final night time. Others had regained entry to their accounts, however with various levels of performance.
