BREAKING: After going dark for 14 hours, TikTok has restored service for U.S. users. President Trump has signed an executive order that halts the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, or the ‘TikTok Ban,’ for 75 days “to permit my Administration an opportunity to determine the appropriate course of action with respect to TikTok.”
On Friday, January 17th, 2025, In a unanimous 9-0 decision, the Supreme Court voted to uphold the constitutionality of the TikTok ban legislation. The court’s opinion read, “There is no doubt that, for more than 170 million Americans, TikTok offers a distinctive and expansive outlet for expression, means of engagement, and source of community. But Congress has determined that divestiture is necessary to address its well-supported national security concerns regarding TikTok’s data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary.”
In response to this ruling, TikTok released a statement stating its service will “be forced to go dark” unless the Biden administration, who in a Friday statement reiterated that TikTok “should remain available to Americans if ‘under American ownership,” guarantees Apple, Google, and other service providers won’t be punished for supporting the app.
Sometime before 11:00 PM EST on Jan. 18, TikTok voluntarily shut down its American servers. Upon launch, users were met with a message saying ‘You can’t use TikTok for now” due to a “U.S. law banning TikTok” set to take effect on Sunday. About an hour later, the nationwide ban took effect. App stores and internet providers were formally barred from listing or offering the social platform. X posts noting the disappearance of TikTok, among other apps from the app store, went viral.
In its messages to users, TikTok almost insistently references President Trump. In the formal shutdown message, the app expresses gratitude for President Trump’s ‘indication’ of working with the company to find a solution “once he takes office.” Many Americans, on X/Twitter and TikTok, were thrown off by this inclusion. And rightfully so.
During his first tenure as President, in 2020, President Trump was a main proponent of the TikTok ban effort. On August 6th, 2020, he signed an executive order mandating TikTok’s parent company ByteDance to divest from its US operations or face sanctions. This order banned U.S. companies from transactions with ByteDance and introduced the narrative of the Chinese Communist Party accessing TikTok’s personal data on Americans. He warned that it could enable the tracking of federal employees’ locations, collection of personal data for blackmail, and conducting corporate espionage. This decision was a part of Trump’s efforts to counter China’s influence.
Not all of these fears are irrational or far-fetched, contrary to public perception. India, Canada, Belgium, Ireland, and New Zealand are just a few countries that cite similar cybersecurity concerns in relation to government devices. All of these nations, including the United States, do not permit the installation of TikTok on government-run devices.
So why the sudden pivot? In March 2024, Trump began warning against banning TikTok. He stated that it would empower Facebook, which he called an enemy of the people. “There’s a lot of good and there’s a lot of bad with TikTok, but the thing I don’t like is that without TikTok, you’re going to make Facebook bigger, and I consider Facebook to be an enemy of the people, along with a lot of the media,” Trump said about the controversial app on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” He added, “I’m not looking to make Facebook double the size,” Trump added. “I think Facebook has been very bad for our country.”
Trump’s beef with Facebook, now known as Meta, is nothing new. In 2017, he tweeted, “Facebook was always anti-Trump.” After his 2020 election loss to President Biden, he made false claims that the election was stolen that resulted in a two-year suspension from Meta.
These events starkly contrast the last couple of months of Trump’s campaign, around the time of his re-election. Meta, among other tech conglomerates, donated $1 million to his inaugural fund. In alignment with Trump’s stance on DEI programs, Meta abolished its diversity initiatives and third party fact-checking program. UFC CEO and Trump ally Dana White was appointed to Meta’s board of directors.
Meta’s calculated moves are seen as attempts to get on Trump’s good side. Whether the motivations are to influence upcoming tech policies or to mitigate the impact of the FTC’s ongoing antitrust case against them, many users have noted this as more than a coincidence.
Around 7:00 AM on Sunday, Trump posted to his social media platform TruthSocial “SAVE TIKTOK.” He later echoed previous sentiments of his executive order extension plan and warned companies to protect TikTok.
About 12 hours after going dark, TikTok tweeted it is in the process of reviving its services. In a quote tweet, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., who chairs the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, warned that “any company that hosts, distributes, services or otherwise facilitates communist-controlled TikTok could face hundreds of billions of dollars of ruinous liability.”
The Senator and Republican chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence also warned that there is no legal basis for the 90-day extension Trump is discussing. Sarah Kreps, director of Cornell University’s Tech Policy Institute, added that there was no evidence ByteDance had made any meaningful progress toward divestiture, “so I don’t see how, by any measure, it would legally meet those conditions.”
“Further, an Executive Order cannot legally override or cancel a law that Congress passed,” she said. “Laws enacted through the legislative process have a higher legal standing and an EO that conflicts with the existing law, the law takes precedence and the EO would likely be struck down by the courts.”
At this point, millions were unsure of what TikTok was doing. Some questioned how the app was able to come back. Others questioned why it went dark in the first place. In its ‘Welcome Back’ statement, TikTok added, “As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.”
During his inauguration on Monday, in which TikTok CEO Shou Chew was in attendance, President Trump signed an executive order halting the TikTok ban for 75 days “to permit my Administration an opportunity to determine the appropriate course of action with respect to TikTok”—after previously suggesting ByteDance shift the platform to a joint venture at least 50% controlled by U.S. interests. This order instructs the Department of Justice to not enforce this law.
In a statement to reporters the next day, he stated that he believed the U.S. is entitled to get 50% of TikTok and warned China against trying to block any deal made by him saying he would consider that an act of “hostility” and “put tariffs of 25, 30, 50%, even 100%.”
Upon its return, TikTok users were wary of the app. This event sparked discourse and fright in the hearts of millions of American TikTok users. The 14-hour shutdown raised many questions around censorship, free speech, power, class, community, and the future of America. Was this a ruse? A distraction from President Trump’s deportation or tariff plans proposed for his first 100 days? In the words of the Biden administration, was all this a PR stunt? As of writing, these questions have not had definitive answers. And they may never.
Other applications with ties to ByteDance and TikTok Ltd., such as Lemon8, CapCut, and Gauth AI, remain inaccessible in the US. They cannot be updated, accessed in Apple App stores, or downloaded to other devices.
As this case develops, in context to the new Presidential administration, it is important as ever to stay alert, vigilant, and in the loop with your trusted news sources.
