News Update: TikTok Restores Service in the United States, Trump Delays Ban with Executive Order
TikTok Restores Service in the US After Trump’s Executive Order Delays Ban
TikTok, the popular social media app, announced on Sunday that it is “restoring service” in the United States after temporarily shutting down its app for its 170 million US users. This move comes after President-elect Donald Trump said he would issue an executive order to delay a TikTok ban.
The app began coming back online for US users, first through web browsers and later on the mobile app. In a statement to Business Insider, TikTok expressed gratitude to President Trump for providing clarity and assurance to service providers that they will not face penalties for providing TikTok to millions of Americans and small businesses.
President-elect Trump took to social media on Sunday morning to announce his executive order, which will extend the time before the law’s prohibitions take effect. He also assured that there will be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before the order.
TikTok stated that it will collaborate with President Trump on a long-term solution to keep the app operational in the United States. The company had turned off its app on Saturday, just before a deadline for owner ByteDance to sell the US version of the app or face a ban. Both Apple and Google had removed TikTok from their stores.
The shutdown followed a legal battle over a ban-or-divest law passed by Congress last year, which requires ByteDance to sell TikTok’s US operations by January 19 or be banned. As the deadline approached, a message on the app informed users that TikTok was unavailable due to the enacted law.
Despite the temporary shutdown, TikTok remains optimistic about finding a solution with the incoming administration to reinstate the app for its millions of American users.
