Written by 
TikTok, which is currently offline in the United States following a ban, says it will return online thanks to President Trump, who initiated the years-in-the-making ban in the first place via executive order in August 2020, years before he used the platform as part of his bid to return to the White House.
“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 seven million small businesses to thrive,” TikTok said in a statement today on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“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.”
TikTok’s First Amendment defense failed unanimously in the United States Supreme Court on Friday, January 17, 2025, after significant bipartisan support easily pushed legislation through Congress in 2024 and the controversial law survived multiple cases in appellate courts.
President Trump, who said in August 2020 via Executive Order 13942 that information and communications technology and services, including TikTok, posed a threat to the national security of the United States and were a “national emergency,” said today on Truth Social that he wanted TikTok to be available to broadcast his second inauguration tomorrow, January 20, 2025.
“I will issue an executive order on 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,” Trump wrote today.
Despite President Trump favoring a TikTok ban during his first term and President Biden signing the ban law into effect in April 2024, both politicians backpedaled in recent days. TikTok has a reported 170 million users in the United States.
In the final week of the Biden presidency, the White House said that Americans should not expect to see TikTok “suddenly banned on Sunday.” Of course, the app did go offline on ByteDance’s orders, as the Chinese company claimed not to have received sufficient assurances from the Biden administration. Following the Supreme Court upholding the TikTok ban, President Biden said he would not enforce it while in office and would kick the can down the road to the incoming President Trump.
As of now, TikTok’s Chinese owners seem confident that President Trump will find a way to keep the app alive in the United States. It remains to be seen what hurdles must be cleared for that to happen, whether changing the law through Congress or simply refusing to enforce the law that passed all three branches of the federal government. Or, perhaps ByteDance will sell the required 80% of TikTok to non-foreign adversaries, as required by the law that went into effect today.
Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.