Less than 24 hours after going dark, TikTok says it has come back online after President-elect Donald Trump gave the company’s service providers—presumably Apple, Google, and Oracle—reassurance that his administration wouldn’t enforce a law banning the app in the first place.
“In agreement with our service providers, TikTok is in the process of restoring service,” the company wrote in a statement. “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 law only allows Trump to extend the enforcement deadline if ByteDance makes real progress on a deal to divest its US operations. Among those whose names have been mentioned as possible acquirers: Elon Musk and fellow billionaire Frank McCourt. While McCourt made an official bid, Musk’s name was reportedly floated in discussions with the Chinese government, according to 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, in addition to other ByteDance-owned apps, is still not back in US app stores as of publication. But several users have reported being able to access their timelines again after they were listed as unavailable last night. Others had regained access to their accounts, but with varying degrees of functionality.