Washington DC:
Hours after going dark, TikTok began restoring its services on Sunday after President-elect Donald Trump said he would restore access to the social media app in the United States when he returns to power on Monday. The Chinese social media app also thanked Trump for “providing necessary clarity and assurances” hours after TikTok was forced to suspend operations in the United States to comply with the Biden administration’s ban. did.
In an earlier statement, the ByteDance-owned app said, “TikTok is working to restore service in accordance with agreements with service providers,” and also expressed its gratitude to the president-elect of the United States.
“Please provide the clarity and assurances we need for our service providers that there will be no penalties in order to bring TikTok to over 170 million Americans and allow over 7 million small businesses to thrive. We thank President Trump for his support for the First Amendment and against arbitrary action.” We will cooperate with you,” the post said.
In a separate message to users, TikTok said, “As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the United States.”
The praise for Republicans came after Donald Trump took to his “Truth Social” platform and said he plans to issue an executive order delaying enforcement of the TikTok ban for 90 days after taking office as the 47th president of the United States.
“We will extend the period until the law’s ban goes into effect so that agreements can be reached to protect national security,” he said.
“I would like the US to have a 50% stake in the joint venture,” he told Truth Social.
Trump said his executive order would specify that companies that helped stop TikTok from shutting down before the executive order would not be held liable.
Hours later, Trump spoke at a rally ahead of his inauguration on Sunday, saying, “Frankly, we don’t have a choice. We have to save it.” He added that the United States would explore a joint venture to revive the short video sharing app used by 170 million Americans.
TikTok suspended its service to U.S. users late Saturday, before a law shutting it down on national security grounds went into effect late Sunday. U.S. officials have warned that there is a risk that American data could be misused under Chinese parent company ByteDance.
Trump previously said he would likely give TikTok a 90-day reprieve from its ban after taking office, and TikTok cited this promise in a notice posted to users on the app. Ta.
But Republican leaders’ efforts to save TikTok are in stark contrast to their first term in office. In 2020, the company sought to ban the app over concerns that it was sharing Americans’ personal information with the Chinese government. More recently, President Trump said he has a “warm spot in my heart for TikTok” and credited the app with helping him win over young voters in the 2024 election.
In August 2020, President Trump signed an executive order giving ByteDance 90 days to sell TikTok, but then agreed to a partnership rather than a sale that would involve both Oracle and Walmart taking stakes in the new company. Blessed the transaction structured as.
