TAMPA, Fla. (WFTS) — TikTok users were in for a surprise Saturday night. Hours before it was set to be banned in the United States, a message appeared on the app saying:
"We regret that a U.S. law banning TikTok will take effect on January 19 and force us to make our services temporarily unavailable.
We're working to restore our service in the U.S. as soon as possible and we appreciate your support. Please stay tuned."
Just hours later, the message changed. While the first paragraph remained unchanged, the second paragraph provided a different message: "We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned!"
"It sucked but at the same time I thought it be good for me to have a break from the app," one user said.
However, roughly 14 hours later, access in the U.S. returned.
This time, the company shared a much longer statement:
STATEMENT FROM TIKTOK:
— TikTok Policy (@TikTokPolicy) January 19, 2025
In agreement with our service providers, TikTok is in the process of restoring service. 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…
This all happened before President Trump's inauguration, therefore not in his official capacity as president yet.
On Truth Social, President Trump spoke of his intent to sign an executive order on his first day back in office to extend the time period before TikTok's ban goes into effect.
I’m asking companies not to let TikTok stay dark! 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 order will also confirm that there will be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before my order.
Americans deserve to see our exciting Inauguration on Monday, as well as other events and conversations.
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 Tik Tok. With our approval, it is worth hundreds of billions of dollars - maybe trillions.
Therefore, my initial thought is a joint venture between the current owners and/or new owners whereby the U.S. gets a 50% ownership in a joint venture set up between the U.S. and whichever purchase we so choose.
It's not clear whether that means public or private ownership.
"What is unclear is politically, how will this fly when we know that a lot of Republicans are more concerned about the international security problems with the Chinese, and particularly U.S. national security, that they're not really jumping up with joy at this announcement. But it's still preliminary," said political scientist Susan MacManus.
President Trump himself initiated the push to ban the app, however.
Back in 2019, he called for a federal investigation and recommended military personnel delete the app.
Official talks to ban the app began in July of 2020. By August, he has signed two Executive Orders: one banning companies from transactions with TikTok's parent company Byte Dance. Another ordering Byte Dance to divest itself of U.S. operations.
Here's what he said at the time when companies such as Microsoft were in talks to buy TikTok.
"We want no security concerns with China. It's got to be an American company. It's gotta be owned here. We don't want any problems with security."
"Without a doubt, the fact that TikTok was so instrumental in Trump reaching younger voters, and he looked at the numbers 170 million plus users. And he has these technology gurus that are by his side all the time. Right now, it really isn't surprising that it happened," MacManus said.
In late spring of 2024, both branches of the legislature and President Biden decided to ban the app. The Supreme Court upheld that ban just two days before the ban was set.
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