TikTok is back up and running in the US after President-Elect Donald Trump indicated he would delay the ban a further 90 days to allow the popular social media platform more time to find a US buyer.
TikTok went dark for more than 170 million users in the US for about 14 hours before it was restored ahead of the Trump-led delay.
“By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands and allow it to stay up,” Trump said on Truth Social.
“Without US approval, there is no TikTok. With our approval, it is worth hundreds of billions of dollars – maybe trillions.”
TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, responded to the restoration and thanked President Trump for his actions in a statement.
“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,” said company CEO Shou Zi Chew.
“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.”
In April 2024, US President Joe Biden signed a bill that would require TikTok to be either sold or banned if it “invested billions of dollars to keep U.S. data safe and our platform free from outside influence and manipulation.”
TikTok challenged the decision and claimed it was a violation of its First Amendment rights.
In December, the US Court of Appeals declined TikTok’s motion to revoke the ruling.
On January 10 the Supreme Court heard arguments over the upcoming ban which centred around the fact it is owned by a Chinese company.
There has been speculation on who would be in position to buy TikTok’s US operations which likely to fetch as much as $US40bn.
The frontrunner is Trump-allied Elon Musk who already purchased Twitter in 2022 and renamed it X.
