TikTok restores service after Trump vows to extend deadline

  • 20/01/2025


TikTok started restoring service in the US on Sunday, after a whipsaw of events that saw the video app make good on a threat to go dark, only to have President-elect Donald Trump halt enforcement of the law and announce he would give its owners another three months to find a buyer.


“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,” the video platform said in a post on X.

The US Supreme Court on Friday unanimously upheld the bipartisan law signed in April that required Chinese parent company ByteDance Ltd. to sell the wildly popular video app and required tech companies that host or distribute TikTok in the US – such as Apple Inc., Google and Oracle Corp. – to stop doing so on Jan. 19. The law was designed to address national security concerns. 

Trump backed the law earlier this year, but reversed course after he suggested TikTok helped him reach young voters and ultimately win the election.

Trump said Sunday in a social media post he would 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.”


Trump, who will be sworn in at noon Monday, said he would seek a joint venture under which new, US-based owners would purchase 50% of the company and “keep it in good hands and allow it to stay up.”

After the high court ruling, TikTok said that without guidance from the Biden administration, it would “go dark” on Sunday, a warning dismissed by White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre as a “stunt.” 

But the app did stop working in the US late Saturday until it started working again shortly after Trump’s announcement. The CEO of TikTok, Shou Chew, is expected to attend Trump’s inaugural ceremony.

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