TikTok said it was restoring access to the video app after President-elect Donald Trump vowed companies that distribute and host the platform would not be held liable for violating a US ban that came into effect on Sunday.
“In agreement with our service providers, TikTok is in the process of restoring service,” the company said on Sunday afternoon. “We thank President Trump for providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties providing TikTok.”
TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, said it would work with Trump “on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the US”.
Early on Sunday afternoon, TikTok’s web version appeared to be working in the US, but the app was not functional and the app did not appear on the Apple and Google app stores. It remained unclear whether Apple and Google were assured by the guarantees from the president-elect, or whether they needed more time to restore the service. Apple and Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump said he would issue an order on Monday guaranteeing that companies that enabled TikTok to stay in service would not be held liable for violating a ban passed by Congress.
TikTok had suspended service this weekend ahead of a Sunday deadline emanating from the law that required ByteDance to sell the video app in order to avoid a ban on app stores allowing downloads.
From midnight on Saturday, companies such as Apple, Google and Oracle, that provide cloud services to TikTok, were banned from providing services to distribute or host the app and risked fines of $5,000 per user. Oracle did not respond to a request for comment.
“I’m asking companies not to let TikTok stay dark!,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform on Sunday.
“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 president-elect said.
Mike Waltz, a Florida lawmaker who will become national security adviser when Trump is inaugurated on Monday, told CNN the president-elect would consider allowing continued Chinese ownership but with “firewalls” to ensure the app’s data was “protected here on US soil”.
Trump said in his Truth Social post that he would like the US “to have a 50 per cent ownership position in a joint venture”.
“By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands and allow it to say [sic] up,” Trump said. “Without US approval, there is no TikTok. With our approval, it is worth hundreds of billions of dollars — maybe trillions.”
“My initial thought is a joint venture between the current owners and/or new owners whereby the US gets a 50 per cent ownership in a joint venture set up between the US and whichever purchase we so choose.”
Lawmakers and US security officials believe the Chinese government could use TikTok to obtain the personal information of Americans, which could facilitate espionage. TikTok denies that China has any control over the app.
The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the ban. Trump on Saturday said he would “most likely” extend the deadline to sell TikTok, which has been downloaded by 170mn Americans, by 90 days.
But some Republican lawmakers, including Tom Cotton, who chairs the Senate intelligence committee, and Nebraska Senator Pete Ricketts, said in a statement that there was “no legal basis for any kind of ‘extension”.
“Any company that hosts, distributes, services, or otherwise facilitates communist-controlled TikTok could face hundreds of billions of dollars of ruinous liability under the law, not just from DOJ [Department of Justice], but also under securities law, shareholder lawsuits, and state AGs,” Cotton said in a post on X. “Think about it.”
One person involved in drafting the law said there was no provision for an extension once the January 19 deadline had passed.
It allowed a 90-day extension if certain conditions were met — including evidence of “significant progress” towards a divestiture and “binding agreements” to enable execution — but only if before the deadline.
In his first term, Trump issued an order to stop TikTok from operating in the US, but it was blocked by the courts. He also tried to engineer a deal that would ensure China could not access the data. Chinese law requires Chinese companies to hand over data when so ordered by the government.
Trump last year expressed opposition to the congressional divest-or-ban law, saying it would help Facebook, which banned him from its platform for two years. Facebook competes with TikTok through its Instagram app.
On Friday, Trump on Friday held his first call with President Xi Jinping since leaving the White House in 2021. He said they discussed TikTok, although the Chinese readout of the call did not mention the app.
Vice-president Han Zheng will also attend the inauguration on Monday in lieu of Xi, who was invited by Trump.
Asked why Trump was launching a “charm offensive” with China, Waltz told CBS that a relationship with the Chinese leader was needed to tackle issues ranging from the flow of Chinese precursor chemicals used to make Fentanyl to South China Sea tensions.
“[Trump] believes he can enter in these deals with that type of regime only by having a relationship,” he added
Additional reporting by George Hammond
