TikTok is restoring its service in the United States after a brief blackout, thanks to President-elect Donald Trump’s assurance to service providers. The video-sharing app went dark for barely more than 12 hours before coming back online. In a statement, TikTok said, “In agreement with our service providers, TikTok is in the process of restoring service.” The company expressed gratitude to President Trump for providing the necessary clarity and assurance to service providers, ensuring they would face no penalties for providing TikTok to over 170 million Americans and allowing over 7 million small businesses to thrive.
TikTok Legislation
A law that would either force TikTok’s parent company ByteDance to sell the app or see it banned in the United States was scheduled to take effect on Sunday. The law also prohibited US companies from supporting the app’s distribution, maintenance, or updating. With President-elect Donald Trump about to take office, officials from President Joe Biden’s White House and the Department of Justice said they would leave enforcement of the law to the Trump administration.
However, TikTok stated that “critical service providers” needed a “definitive statement,” otherwise the app would go dark. Indeed, the app stopped working on Saturday night and disappeared from the Apple and Google Play app stores.
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TikTok Delay
Earlier on Sunday, President-elect Donald Trump said he would be issuing an executive order to delay the ban. He suggested that he would like to see TikTok restored sooner rather than later because “Americans deserve to see our exciting Inauguration on Monday.” To that end, he said his order would “confirm that there will be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before my order.”
This reassurance appeared to be enough for TikTok and its service providers. By the time the company issued its statement, the TikTok app was already working again for several TechCrunch writers. However, as of 1:05 PM Eastern, it still appeared to be absent from the Apple app store and Google Play.
Not all lawmakers supported the decision. In response to TikTok’s announcement, Republican Senator Tom Cotton posted that “any company that hosts, distributes, services, or otherwise facilitates communist-controlled TikTok could face hundreds of billions of dollars of ruinous liability.” Despite this opposition, TikTok stated that it would work with President Trump on a long-term solution to keep TikTok in the United States.
