TikTok is in the process of restoring service in the United States after a brief outage lasting over 12 hours. The company expressed gratitude to President Trump for providing clarity to service providers, ensuring they would not face penalties for offering TikTok to over 170 million Americans and supporting over 7 million small businesses. This restoration comes in light of a law that would have forced TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, to sell the app or face a ban, which was set to take effect soon.
As President-elect Trump prepares to take office, his administration indicated it would defer enforcement of the law, allowing TikTok to seek reassurance from its service providers. Following Trump's announcement of an executive order to delay the ban, TikTok's services began to resume, although the app was still missing from the Apple and Google Play stores at that time.
Not all lawmakers supported the decision, with Republican Senator Tom Cotton warning of potential liabilities for companies associated with TikTok. Trump also suggested a potential deal involving a joint venture that would give the U.S. 50% ownership of TikTok. TikTok stated its commitment to working with Trump on a long-term solution to maintain its presence in the U.S.
