By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -TikTok said on Sunday it was restoring service after President-elect Donald Trump said he would revive access to the app in the United States when he returns to power on Monday.
The statement came after American users reported they could access the Chinese-owned service’s website, while the much more widely used TikTok app began to come back online for some users with only a few basic services.
“In accordance 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 not face sanctions (for) providing TikTok to over 170 million Americans and enabling over 7 million small businesses to thrive.”
TikTok stopped working for U.S. users late Saturday before a law shutting it down for national security reasons went into effect Sunday. US officials had warned that under Chinese parent company ByteDance, there was a risk that Americans’ data could be misused.
Trump said he would “extend the time period before the law’s prohibitions go into effect, so we can reach an agreement to protect our national security.”
“I would like the United States to have a 50% stake in a joint venture,” he wrote in Truth Social.
Trump said the executive order would specify that there would be no liability for any company that helped prevent TikTok from disappearing before his order.
Trump had previously said he would likely give TikTok a break from the 90-day ban after taking office, a promise TikTok cited in a notice posted to the app’s users.
“A law has been passed banning TikTok in the US. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now. We’re lucky that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. the charge. Please Stay tuned,” a message notified users of TikTok, which disappeared from the Apple (NASDAQ 🙂 and Google (NASDAQ 🙂) app stores late Saturday.
Although temporary, TikTok’s unprecedented shutdown will have a wide-ranging impact on U.S.-China relations, U.S. politics, the social media market, and millions of Americans who depend on the app economically and culturally.
Trump saving TikTok represents a change in position from his first term. In 2020, it sought to ban the short video app over fears the company was sharing Americans’ personal information with the Chinese government. More recently, Trump has said he has “a warm place in my heart for TikTok,” crediting the app with helping him win over young voters in the 2024 election. In August 2020, Trump signed a executive order that gave ByteDance 90 days to sell TikTok, but then blessed a deal structured as a partnership rather than a divestiture that would have included both Oracle (NYSE 🙂 and Walmart (NYSE 🙂 will take stakes in the new company. Not everyone in Trump’s Republican Party agreed with the efforts to circumvent the law and “Save TikTok.” Republican senators Tom and Pete Ricketts said in a joint statement: “Now that the law has.” come into 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 cutting it off. all links between TikTok and communist China.” The United States has never banned a major social media platform. The law overwhelmingly passed by Congress gives the incoming Trump administration broad authority to ban or seek the sale of other Chinese-owned apps. Other ByteDance-owned apps, including video editing app CapCut and lifestyle social app Lemon8, were also offline and unavailable in U.S. app stores as of Saturday evening. Apple and Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment. MOVING TO ALTERNATIVES Under the law passed last year and confirmed Friday by a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court, the platform had until Sunday to cut ties with its China-based parent or close its U.S. operation to resolve concerns that it poses a threat to national security. . China’s embassy in Washington on Friday accused the United States of using unfair state power to suppress TikTok. “China will take all necessary measures to resolutely safeguard its legitimate rights and interests,” a spokesperson said. Uncertainty about the app’s future had caused mostly young users to look for alternatives, including China-based RedNote. Rivals Meta (NASDAQ 🙂 and Snap have seen their stock prices rise this month ahead of the ban, as investors bet on an influx of users and advertising dollars. ‘HAIR ON FIRE’ MOMENT Web searches for “VPN” spiked minutes after American users lost access to TikTok, according to Google Trends Instagram users worried about whether they would still receive products they had purchased from TikTok Shop, the e-commerce arm of the platform. videos. Marketing companies that rely on TikTok have scrambled to prepare contingency plans in what one executive described as a “hair on fire” moment after months of conventional wisdom saying a solution to maintain the platform would materialize. app up and running. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew plans to attend the US presidential inauguration and attend a rally with Trump on Sunday, a source told Reuters. Suitors, including former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, have expressed interest in the fast-growing business that analysts estimate could be worth up to $50 billion. Media reports say Beijing has also held talks about selling TikTok’s US operations to billionaire and Trump ally Elon Musk, although the company has denied this. US search engine startup Perplexity AI submitted an offer on Saturday to ByteDance for Perplexity to merge with TikTok US, a source familiar with the company’s plans told Reuters. Perplexity would merge with TikTok US and create a new entity by combining the merged company with other partners, the person added. Privately held ByteDance is about 60% owned by institutional investors such as BlackRock (NYSE 🙂 and General Atlantic, while its founders and employees own 20% each. It has more than 7,000 employees in the US.