Just hours after going dark due to a government ban, which President-elect Donald Trump claimed he will attempt to halt by executive order on his first day in office, TikTok brought service back to its users in the United States on Sunday.
In order to give TikTok’s parent firm, which is based in China, more time to find an authorized buyer before the ban goes into full force, Trump stated that he intended to issue the order. As millions of TikTok users in the United States woke up to find they could no longer access the TikTok app or platform, he made the announcement on his Truth Social account.
Those who signed up, however, received a message by Sunday afternoon thanking them and the president-elect for their support.
The statement said, “TikTok is back in the U.S. thanks to President Trump’s efforts.”
Due to a federal statute requiring parent company ByteDance to sell its U.S. business by Sunday, TikTok said that it had shut down the platform late Saturday. TikTok was also taken down from Google and Apple’s online stores. Steep fines are permitted by the statute, which was passed in April with broad bipartisan backing.
The TikTok app was still not accessible for download in the Apple and Google app stores, despite the fact that the firm that operates the app in the United States stated on X that the actions Trump described on Sunday provide “the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties.”
Market research firm Emarketer analyst Jasmine Enberg stated, “It was a brilliant marketing stunt for both TikTok and incoming president Donald Trump.” “TikTok demonstrated how unpopular the ban was among its users by abruptly shutting off service.”
What led to TikTok’s ban? What is there for Trump to do?
Due to national security concerns, the regulation that went into force on Sunday mandated that ByteDance sever its connections with the platform’s U.S. operations. However, if a successful sale was in progress, the statute permitted the current president to issue a 90-day extension.
ByteDance has stated that it will not sell, despite several proposals from investors. According to Trump, his order will “confirm that there will be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before my order” and “extend the period of time before the law’s prohibitions take effect.”
Since the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously upheld the ban on Friday and the statute went into effect the day before Trump’s return to the White House, it was not immediately obvious how Trump’s predicted action would fair legally.
“I believe Trump can at least argue that the language is intended to cover any president,” Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, stated.
A number of senators, including some of Trump’s fellow Republicans, still support the sale-or-ban measure. On Sunday, Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton cautioned businesses against offering technical assistance to TikTok.
Cotton posted on X, “The law could subject any company that hosts, distributes, services, or otherwise facilitates communist-controlled TikTok to hundreds of billions of dollars of ruinous liability.” “Consider it.”
According to Kirk McGill, a constitutional and commercial law lawyer, Trump does not have the legal right to halt the ban, but it is doubtful that the matter would be heard in court in the time it could take TikTok to find a buyer.
Additionally, if Apple or Google comply with Trump’s demands, it’s doubtful that they will be prosecuted because his government would have to start any legal action, McGill added.
“This is definitely going to be a political battle, not a legal one, in the coming week or two before the courts have the opportunity to take any action,” McGill stated.
Is the shutdown of TikTok temporary?
Following the Supreme Court’s decision that the threat to national security posed by TikTok’s connections to China exceeded worries about restricting expression by the app or its millions of American users, TikTok became available intermittently.
As of Saturday night, American users of TikTok encountered a pop-up notification with the headline, “Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now,” when they attempted to view or upload videos on the app.
“The U.S. has passed legislation prohibiting TikTok,” the notification stated. “Unfortunately, that means you are unable to use TikTok at this time.”
Late Saturday, the app was taken off from major app stores, and as of Sunday afternoon, it was still gone. Apple informed users that it had removed other ByteDance apps. They included the well-known video editing program CapCut, the photo editor Hypic, and Lemon8, which some influencers had marketed as a TikTok substitute.
Apple stated that it must abide by the laws of the countries in which it conducts business.
Google chose not to respond. A message asking for comment on the events of the day was not immediately answered by Apple.
According to experts, the rule as written only required app shops to remove TikTok’s platform, not the company itself. Before the app stopped functioning due to a lack of upgrades, current users anticipated that they would still be able to access videos.
Tiffany Watson, a 20-year-old content creator, expressed her optimism that TikTok will remain operational after it reopened on Sunday. However, Watson claimed that during the months when a ban was a real possibility, her commitment to the platform “solely” decreased.
“Overall, despite TikTok’s unpredictable nature, I hope creators will thrive and find community,” she stated.
Will TikTok benefit from the timing of the ban?
Trump’s decision to spare TikTok on his first day in office was a reflection of the ban’s accidental timing as well as the peculiar combination of political factors pertaining to a social media platform that initially became well-known for its frequently goofy dance and music video content.
Trump’s 2020 executive orders, which were later stopped by judges, prohibited transactions with ByteDance and the proprietors of the Chinese messaging app WeChat during his first term as president.
Since then, Trump has given TikTok credit for helping him garner support from young voters during the previous presidential election. Shou Chew, the CEO of TikTok, is anticipated to attend Trump’s inauguration and will have a preferred seat.
Michael Waltz, Trump’s national security advisor, told CBS News on Sunday that the president-elect spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping about TikTok over the weekend “and they agreed to work together on this.”
Additionally, the Biden administration has made it clear in recent days that it had no plans to enact or enforce the ban prior to Trump’s inauguration on Monday.
Who are potential TikTok customers?
No potential bidder has surfaced, and ByteDance has made it clear that it would not sell TikTok.
According to a person familiar with the situation, artificial intelligence firm Perplexity AI proposed to ByteDance on Saturday to form a new company that would combine Perplexity with TikTok’s U.S. division.
Not requesting to buy the ByteDance algorithm, which feeds TikTok users’ videos according to their interests, is confusing.
Lawmakers and administration officials in Washington have long cautioned that China could manipulate the algorithm. The United States has not yet made public any proof that TikTok has given Chinese authorities user data or altered the algorithm to serve Chinese goals.
Whether Trump will continue to be a TikTok lover is another mystery.
He has previously changed his mind about TikTok, and there’s no assurance that he won’t do so again, according to Enberg of EMarketer.
