TikTok is back online in the United States

After being offline in the United States for 14 hours, TikTok now says it is in the process of restoring service. In a statement posted to social media, the company said:

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.

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.

TikTok ban: the latest news

TikTok went offline at 10:30 p.m. ET in the United States on Saturday as a federal ban was enacted. Apple subsequently removed the app from the App Store, saying it is “obligated to follow the laws in the jurisdictions where it operates.”

As we’ve explained before, the burden of enforcing the federal TikTok ban falls to TikTok’s partners like Apple, Google, Oracle, and more. In today’s statement, TikTok says it has reached an “agreement” with service providers to effectively ignore the law due to lack of enforcement.

TikTok also thanks President Trump for “providing the necessary clarity” to those partners to ensure they will “face no penalties” for restoring access to the service.

The Biden administration had previously indicated it would not enforce the ban, passing that responsibility to the Trump administration. Despite the Biden administration’s comments, TikTok still chose to go dark on Saturday night – a move that the Biden team ruled a “stunt.”

Today’s announcement from TikTok comes after President-elect Trump posted on social media that he will issue an executive order to “extend the period of time before the law’s prohibitions take effect.” Presumably, this is the “necessary clarity” referenced by TikTok’s statement today.

What happens next is just as unclear as ever. In his social media post today, Trump floated the possibility of the United States having “a 50% ownership position in a joint venture” for TikTok:

I’m asking companies not to let TikTok stay dark! 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. The order will also confirm that there will be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before my order.

Americans deserve to see our exciting Inauguration on Monday, as well as other events and conversations.

I would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture.  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. 
 
Therefore, my initial thought is a joint venture between the current owners and/or new owners whereby the U.S. gets a 50% ownership in a joint venture set up between the U.S. and whichever purchase we so choose.

In a post on Bluesky, NPR reporter Bobby Allyn cites a “person close to TikTok” and says the Biden administration’s “statements about non-enforcement did not reassure web-host providers Oracle and Akamai.” Today’s Truth Social post from Trump, however, won them over.

Allyn says that Apple and Google “are not part of this.” This would suggest that TikTok will not return to the App Store or Play Store today.

As written, the law allows a president to delay the TikTok ban by 90 days, but only if there is evidence that “significant progress” has been made toward a potential sale. The law originally gave China-linked parent company ByteDance nine months to sell TikTok, but that timeline expired today. There is no evidence TikTok has made “significant progress” toward a sale.

During his first administration, Trump supported the idea of banning TikTok in the United States due to national security concerns.

Apple has not commented on today’s announcement from TikTok. As of 12:45 p.m. ET on Sunday, the app is still unavailable in the App Store.

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