Tiktok Back Online In US, Thanks to Donald Trump
TikTok has restored access to its app after President-elect Donald Trump said he would issue an executive order on Monday to delay banning the Chinese-owned social media app.
Trump, whose inauguration is at noon ET on Monday, also said in a post on his social media platform Truth Social that he wants the U.S. to own half of TikTok.
“In agreement with our service providers, TikTok is in the process of restoring service,” TikTok said in a post on X. “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 app went dark on Sunday after the Supreme Court on Friday upheld a law requiring its parent ByteDance sell the platform or face a U.S. ban. A law passed by congress and signed by President Joe Biden in April required that TikTok’s Chinese parent company divest the short-video siteJan. 19or not be allowed to operate in the U.S. on national security grounds.
Though Chinese officials prefer that TikTok stay under ByteDance’s control, they have also discussed internally options including allowing a “trusted non-Chinese party” such as Elon Musk to buy TikTok’s U.S. operations, according to several reports last week.
