TikTok back online after Trump pledges to delay ban

After a brief weekend outage, TikTok was up and running again yesterday in the United States after President-elect Donald Trump said he would issue an executive order today to keep the popular video platform active.

It was the latest in a flurry of news about the short-form video site, which is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance and has gained some prominent supporters in the U.S.

A screenshot of the welcome message displayed to U.S. users upon opening the TikTok app. Photo from WeChat account "央视财经"

TikTok went dark around 10:30 p.m. ET Saturday but was back online just before 12:30 p.m. today. "Sorry, TikTok isn't available right now," users were told in a pop-up message Saturday.

The next day, a new pop-up said: "Welcome back! Thanks for your patience and support. As a result of President Trump's efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.! You can continue to create, share, and discover all the things you love on TikTok."

Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform this morning: "I'm asking companies not to let TikTok stay dark! I will issue an executive order 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.

"The order will also confirm that there will be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before my order. Americans deserve to see our exciting Inauguration Monday, as well as other events and conversations," Trump wrote.

"I would like the United States to have a 50 percent ownership position in a joint venture. … Without US approval, there is no Tik Tok. With our approval, it is worth hundreds of billions of dollars -- maybe trillions. Therefore, my initial thought is a joint venture between the current owners and/or new owners."

In a post on X.com on Sunday by @TikTokPolicy, the platform said: "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.

"It's a strong stand for the First Amendment and against arbitrary censorship. We will work with President Trump on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States," the statement said.

The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act — passed by Congress by a wide margin in the spring and upheld by the Supreme Court on Friday — required ByteDance to cut ties with the platform's U.S. operations by yesterday, due to alleged national security concerns. The statute, however, gives the sitting president authority to grant a 90-day extension if a viable sale were underway.

Google and Apple had removed the app from their digital stores to comply with the law by yesterday or potentially face hefty fines.

Trump's decision to restore TikTok marks a reversal from his stance during his first term in office. In 2020, he aimed to ban the app, alleging that the company was "sharing Americans' personal information with the Chinese government." More recently, Trump has expressed that he has "a warm spot in my heart for TikTok," crediting the app with helping him win over young voters in the 2024 election.

The U.S. has never banned a major social media platform. The law, which was passed overwhelmingly by Congress, grants the incoming Trump administration sweeping authority to either ban or seek the sale of other Chinese-owned apps.

Other apps owned by ByteDance, including video editing app CapCut and lifestyle social app Lemon8, were also offline and unavailable in U.S. app stores as of late Saturday.

Web searches for "VPN" spiked in the minutes after U.S. users lost access to TikTok, according to Google Trends.

Users on Instagram fretted about whether they would still receive merchandise they had bought on TikTok Shop, the video platform's e-commerce arm.

Marketing firms reliant on TikTok quickly scrambled to prepare contingency plans, with one executive describing the moment as a "hair on fire" scenario after months of conventional wisdom suggesting a solution would materialize to keep the app running.

TikTok CEO Shou Chew is expected to attend Trump's inauguration with a prime seating location and attend a rally with Trump on Sunday, a source told Reuters.

U.S. search engine startup Perplexity AI submitted a bid Saturday to ByteDance for Perplexity to merge with TikTok U.S., a source familiar with the company's plans told Reuters. Perplexity would merge with TikTok U.S. and create a new entity by combining the merged company with other partners, the person added.

Privately held ByteDance is about 60% owned by institutional investors such as BlackRock and General Atlantic, while its founders and employees own 20% each. It has more than 7,000 employees in the U.S. (CD/CGTN)