By Olaitan Ibrahim
TikTok began restoring its services on Sunday after President-elect Donald Trump said he would revive the app’s access in the U.S. when he returns to power on Monday.
“Frankly, we have no choice. We have to save it,” Trump said at a rally on Sunday ahead of his inauguration, adding that the U.S. will seek a joint venture to restore the short-video sharing app used by 170 million Americans.
In a message to users hours before the rally, TikTok said: “As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.”
TikTok issued an earlier statement after U.S. users reported being able to access the Chinese-owned service’s website while the far more widely used TikTok app itself began coming back online for some users with just a few basic services. Late on Sunday, the app was unavailable for download on U.S. app stores.
“In agreement with our service providers, TikTok is in the process of restoring service,” TikTok said in the earlier statement that also thanked Trump for “providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties (for) providing TikTok to over 170 million Americans and allowing over 7 million small businesses to thrive.”
TikTok’s public thanks to Trump, the day before he takes office, comes at a tense moment in U.S.-China relations. Trump has said he intends to place tariffs on China but has also indicated he hopes to have more direct contact with China’s leader.
When asked about the app’s restoration and Trump’s desire for a deal, China’s foreign ministry told a regular news briefing on Monday that it believed companies should “decide independently” about their operations and deals.
“TikTok has operated in the U.S. for many years and is deeply loved by American users,” ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said. “We hope that the U.S. can earnestly listen to the voice of reason and provide an open, fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment for firms operating there.”
TikTok stopped working for U.S. users late on Saturday before a law shutting it down on national security grounds took effect on Sunday. U.S. officials had said that under Chinese parent company ByteDance, there was a risk of Americans’ data being misused.
Trump said he would “extend the period of time before the law’s prohibitions take effect, so that we can make a deal to protect our national security.”
“I would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Trump said the executive order would specify there would be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before his order.
Trump had earlier said he would most likely give TikTok a 90-day reprieve from the ban after he takes office, a promise TikTok cited in a notice posted to users on the app.
“A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now. We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned,” a message notified users of TikTok, which disappeared from Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab and Google app stores late on Saturday.
Trump saving TikTok represents a reversal in stance from his first term in office. In 2020, he aimed to ban the app over concerns the company was sharing Americans’ personal info with the Chinese government. More recently, Trump has said he has “a warm spot in my heart for TikTok,” crediting the app with helping him win over young voters in the 2024 presidential election.
In August 2020, Trump signed an executive order giving ByteDance 90 days to sell TikTok but then blessed a deal structured as a partnership rather than a divestment that would have included both Oracle (ORCL.N), opens new tab and Walmart (WMT.N), opens new tab taking stakes in the new company.
Not everyone in Trump’s Republican Party agreed with efforts to get around the law and “Save TikTok”.
Republican senators Tom Cotton and Pete Ricketts said in a joint statement: “Now that the law has taken effect, there is no legal basis for any kind of ‘extension’ of its effective date. For TikTok to come back online in the future, ByteDance must agree to a sale that satisfies the law’s qualified-divestiture requirements by severing all ties between TikTok and Communist China.”
The U.S. has never banned a major social media platform. The law passed overwhelmingly by Congress gives the incoming Trump administration sweeping authority to 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.
Apple and Google (GOOGL.O), opens new tab did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
‘HAIR ON FIRE’ MOMENT
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 have rushed to prepare contingency plans in what one executive described as a “hair on fire” moment after months of conventional wisdom saying that a solution would materialize to keep the app running.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew plans to attend the U.S. presidential inauguration and attend a rally with Trump on Sunday, a source told Reuters.
Suitors including former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt have expressed interest in the fast-growing business that analysts estimate could be worth as much as $50 billion. Media reports say Beijing has also held talks about selling TikTok’s U.S. operations to billionaire and Trump ally Elon Musk, though the company has denied that.
U.S. search engine startup Perplexity AI submitted a bid on 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..