TikTok restores service in US after brief outage, credits Trump for reversal

TikTok restores service in the United States on Sunday after a brief shutdown, following the implementation of a law banning the app on national security grounds.

The video-sharing platform credited President-elect Donald Trump for making the reversal possible, despite the outgoing Biden administration’s statement that it would not enforce the ban.

TikTok had gone offline late Saturday as the deadline approached for its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell its U.S. subsidiary to non-Chinese buyers. Earlier Sunday, as millions of users were barred from the app, Trump promised to issue an executive order delaying the ban to allow time to “make a deal.”

He also proposed in a post on his Truth Social platform that the U.S. take partial ownership of TikTok.

Trump suggested that the U.S. should have a 50% stake in a joint venture, claiming the app’s value could soar to “hundreds of billions of dollars — maybe trillions.”

“By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands,” wrote Trump, who had previously supported a TikTok ban and taken steps towards it during his first term in office.

In a statement posted on X following Trump’s comments, TikTok confirmed it was “in the process of restoring service” and thanked Trump for providing “clarity and assurance” to its service providers that they would face no penalties for offering TikTok to over 170 million Americans.

TikTok was back online in the U.S. by Sunday afternoon but did not address Trump’s call for partial American ownership of the app.