In just12 hours, TikTok was temporarily unavailable in the United States, only to return with the aid of President-elect Donald Trump, who attributed the app’s comeback to his intervention.
Users were greeted with a notification that read, “Thanks for your patience and support. As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.!” This message marked the end of a brief but impactful outage that had left millions of users offline late Saturday night.
Initially, users were met with a message said, “A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now,” which also affected other ByteDance-owned apps like Lemon8 and CapCut. The app was subsequently removed from Apple’s App Store and Google Play.
By early Sunday, Trump announced plans to issue an executive order delaying the enforcement of the divest-or-ban law. Within hours, TikTok began restoring its service.
TikTok’s restoration is a relief for its 170 million American users, many of whom rely on the platform for news, entertainment, and even livelihoods. “In agreement with our service providers, TikTok is in the process of restoring service. 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,” TikTok said in a statement.
TikTok CEO Shou Chew is expected to attend Trump’s “Make America Great Again Victory Rally” in Washington, DC, on Sunday night, and will be prominently seated at the inauguration on Monday.
Trump announced via Truth Social that he would issue an executive order extending the period before the law’s prohibitions take effect to work out a deal protecting national security. He urged TikTok’s partners to allow the app’s restoration, stating, “the order will also confirm that there will be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before my order.”
In a related post, Trump expressed his desire to maintain TikTok, posting, “SAVE TIKTOK!” He proposed a 50-50 joint venture between ByteDance and an American owner. Despite the Supreme Court upholding the law on Friday, Trump’s intervention seemed to reassure TikTok’s technology partners like Oracle, Apple, and Google.
However, not all are in favor of the extension. Republican Senators Tom Cotton and Pete Ricketts issued a joint statement opposing any delay, emphasizing the need to sever ties between TikTok and China to protect American privacy and security.
The path to securing TikTok’s long-term future involves either passing new legislation to reverse the current law or facilitating the sale of TikTok to an acceptable buyer. Despite interest from potential buyers, ByteDance has resisted selling its highly valuable algorithm.
The brief shutdown served as a stark reminder of TikTok’s cultural influence. Influencer Shannon Lange remarked, “I’m so sad for so many people. I was shocked. I think I was probably in denial a little bit that it would actually just go dark.” Similarly, influencer Alix Earle expressed her distress in a tearful video, “I feel like I’m going through heartbreak. This platform is more than an app or a job to me.”
TikTok creator Julie Turkel described the experience as “surreal,” noting the eerie atmosphere when the app went offline. However, once the app returned, Lange celebrated with a video captioned, “Longest 13 hours of my life and I was sleeping for 9 of them.”
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