TikTok said on Sunday it was restoring its service after President-elect Donald Trump said he would revive the app's access in the U.S. when he returns to power on Monday.
The statement came after U.S. users reported being able to access the Chinese-owned service's website while the far more widely used TikTok app itself began coming back online for some users with just a few basic services.
"In agreement with our service providers, TikTok is in the process of restoring service," TikTok said in a statement that thanked Trump for "providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties (for) providing TikTok to over 170 million Americans and allowing over 7 million small businesses to thrive."
TikTok stopped working for U.S. users late on Saturday before a law shutting it down on national security grounds took effect on Sunday. U.S. officials had warned that under Chinese parent company ByteDance, there was a risk of Americans' data being misused. Trump said he would "extend the period before the law's prohibitions take effect so that we can make a deal to protect our national security." "I would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture," he wrote on Truth Social.Trump said the executive order would specify there would be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before his order. Trump had earlier said he would most likely give TikTok a 90-day reprieve from the ban after he takes office, a promise TikTok cited in a notice posted to users on the app. "A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can't use TikTok for now. We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned," a message notified users of TikTok, which disappeared from Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab and Google app stores late on Saturday. Even if temporary, the unprecedented shutdown of TikTok is set to have a wide-ranging impact on U.S.-China relations, U.S. politics, the social media marketplace, and millions of Americans who depend on the app economically and culturally. Trump saving TikTok represents a reversal in stance from his first term in office. In 2020, he aimed to ban the short-video app over concerns the company was sharing American info with the Chinese government. More recently, Trump has said he has "a warm spot in my heart for TikTok," crediting the app with helping him win over young voters in the 2024 election. In August 2020, Trump signed an executive order giving ByteDance 90 days to sell TikTok but then blessed a deal structured as a partnership rather than a divestment that would have included both Oracle (ORCL.N), and Walmart (WMT.N), taking stakes in the new company. Not everyone in Trump's Republican Party agreed with efforts to get around the law and "Save TikTok".Republican senators Tom Cotton and Pete Ricketts said in a joint statement: "Now that the law has taken effect, there is no legal basis for any kind of 'extension' of its effective date. For TikTok to come back online in the future, ByteDance must agree to a sale that satisfies the law's qualified-divestiture requirements by severing all ties between TikTok and Communist China." The U.S. has never banned a major social media platform. The law passed overwhelmingly by Congress gives the incoming Trump administration sweeping authority to ban or seek the sale of other Chinese-owned apps.Other apps owned by ByteDance, including video editing app CapCut and lifestyle social app Lemon8, were also offline and unavailable in U.S. app stores as of late Saturday.
TikTok said on Sunday it was restoring its service after President-elect Donald Trump said he would revive the app's access in the U.S. when he returns to power on Monday.
The statement came after U.S. users reported being able to access the Chinese-owned service's website while the far more widely used TikTok app itself began coming back online for some users with just a few basic services.
"In agreement with our service providers, TikTok is in the process of restoring service," TikTok said in a statement that thanked Trump for "providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties (for) providing TikTok to over 170 million Americans and allowing over 7 million small businesses to thrive."
TikTok stopped working for U.S. users late on Saturday before a law shutting it down on national security grounds took effect on Sunday. U.S. officials had warned that under Chinese parent company ByteDance, there was a risk of Americans' data being misused. Trump said he would "extend the period before the law's prohibitions take effect so that we can make a deal to protect our national security." "I would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture," he wrote on Truth Social.Trump said the executive order would specify there would be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before his order. Trump had earlier said he would most likely give TikTok a 90-day reprieve from the ban after he takes office, a promise TikTok cited in a notice posted to users on the app. "A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can't use TikTok for now. We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned," a message notified users of TikTok, which disappeared from Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab and Google app stores late on Saturday. Even if temporary, the unprecedented shutdown of TikTok is set to have a wide-ranging impact on U.S.-China relations, U.S. politics, the social media marketplace, and millions of Americans who depend on the app economically and culturally. Trump saving TikTok represents a reversal in stance from his first term in office. In 2020, he aimed to ban the short-video app over concerns the company was sharing American info with the Chinese government. More recently, Trump has said he has "a warm spot in my heart for TikTok," crediting the app with helping him win over young voters in the 2024 election. In August 2020, Trump signed an executive order giving ByteDance 90 days to sell TikTok but then blessed a deal structured as a partnership rather than a divestment that would have included both Oracle (ORCL.N), and Walmart (WMT.N), taking stakes in the new company. Not everyone in Trump's Republican Party agreed with efforts to get around the law and "Save TikTok".Republican senators Tom Cotton and Pete Ricketts said in a joint statement: "Now that the law has taken effect, there is no legal basis for any kind of 'extension' of its effective date. For TikTok to come back online in the future, ByteDance must agree to a sale that satisfies the law's qualified-divestiture requirements by severing all ties between TikTok and Communist China." The U.S. has never banned a major social media platform. The law passed overwhelmingly by Congress gives the incoming Trump administration sweeping authority to ban or seek the sale of other Chinese-owned apps.Other apps owned by ByteDance, including video editing app CapCut and lifestyle social app Lemon8, were also offline and unavailable in U.S. app stores as of late Saturday.