TikTok starts restoring service in the U.S. after shutting down over divest-or-ban law

TikTok began restoring service to users in the United States following a temporary and voluntary shutdown that lasted less than a day. The company said Sunday that it was in the process of reinstating access after President-elect Donald Trump vowed to try to pause the ban by executive order on his first day in office.

“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 alwing over 7 million small businesses to thrive,” TikTok said in a statement. “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 app owner ByteDance voluntarily shut down service in the U.S. just hours before a Sunday deadline, cutting off access to tens of millions of users after the Supreme Court this week upheld a law that effectively banned it over concerns about its ties to China.

The law passed by Congress last year gave TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance until Jan. 19 to divest from TikTok or be cut off from U.S. app stores and hosting services. TikTok said a sale wasn’t possible and challenged the law in court, but it was rejected by a unanimous Supreme Court on Friday.

Trump on Sunday posted on social media that he would restore TikTok, first writing “SAVE TIKTOK” and then vowing to issue an executive order on Monday to extend the period of time before the law takes effect. Further, he said there would be no liability for companies that helped keep TikTok from going dark before the order went into effect. 

“Americans deserve to see our exciting Inauguration on Monday, as well as other events and conversations,” he wrote.  “I would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture.  By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands and allow it to say up.  Without U.S. approval, there is no TikTok.  With our approval, it is worth hundreds of billions of dollars – maybe trillions.”

The court’s decision said the divest-or-ban law does not violate the free speech rights of TikTok or its 170 million users in the U.S., agreeing with the government’s position that the platform could be used by China to collect a vast amount of sensitive information on Americans.     

While the Biden administration said enforcement of the law would be left to the incoming Trump administration, the company itself took itself offline shortly before Sunday’s midnight deadline. 

Users in the U.S. who opened the app late Saturday night were greeted with a message with the headline, “Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now.”