Following a 12-hour suspension due to a Supreme Court ruling, TikTok resumed operations in the United States after President-elect Donald Trump intervened to delay the ban and proposed a joint venture to address national security concerns.
On January 17, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously upheld a law mandating that ByteDance Ltd., TikTok’s Chinese parent company, divest its U.S. operations by January 19. In compliance, TikTok ceased its services on January 18, rendering content inaccessible and removing the app from stores.
However, on January 19, President-elect Donald Trump announced plans to issue an executive order delaying the ban, allowing for negotiations on a security arrangement. He proposed a joint venture granting the U.S. a 50% ownership stake to mitigate national security risks. Following this development, TikTok restored its services, and users began regaining access to the platform.
ByteDance expressed gratitude to President-elect Trump for providing clarity and assurance to service providers, enabling them to offer TikTok to over 170 million American users and support more than seven million small businesses without fear of penalties.
Despite the restoration, some users reported that TikTok remained unavailable for download in major app stores. The Supreme Court’s decision emphasized national security concerns over First Amendment rights, while the outgoing Biden administration, which had signed the ban into law, chose not to enforce it. The future of TikTok in the U.S. remains uncertain, pending further legal and political developments.
