Tiktok announces resumption of service in the USA after temporary shutdown






Just a few hours after Tiktok was temporarily shut down in the USA, the video platform should be available again on the smartphones of users in the country. The service is “currently being resumed” in the USA, Tiktok said on Sunday on the online service X and thanked the designated US President Donald Trump. Shortly before, Trump had declared that he wanted to suspend the Tiktok ban, which had been decided on the basis of a law, on Monday.

Trump had announced a decree on his online service Truth Social to make Tiktok accessible again – despite the law banning the video platform from the app stores in the USA. Trump further wrote that he was in favor of half of the service operated by the Chinese parent company Bytedance being owned by the US in a joint venture.

On Saturday (local time) Tiktok blocked access to the country’s approximately 170 million users because of the law. Trump begins his second term as US President on Monday and, according to his own statements, wants to sign the decree banning the platform on the day he is sworn in.

“I would like the United States to hold 50 percent of the shares in a joint venture,” Trump wrote about the future of Tiktok. His decree will delay the implementation of the ban so that there is time for a “deal” that protects the “national security” of the USA. “This is how we save Tiktok and make sure it stays in the right hands,” Trump added.

On Friday, the US Supreme Court confirmed a Tiktok ban law passed by the US Congress. It stipulates that Tiktok should disappear from the Google and Apple app stores if Bytedance does not sell the platform in the USA by Sunday. However, the law allows a 90-day delay if there is progress toward an agreement.

The background to the Tiktok ban are allegations by the US authorities that Bytedance is misusing the app to spy on users in the service of Beijing. The Chinese company had so far categorically rejected a sale and is supported in this stance by the Chinese government. Beijing speaks of a robbery law.

After the Supreme Court’s ruling, outgoing President Joe Biden no longer considered himself responsible for the future of Tiktok – but left the matter to his successor Trump.

Trump himself spoke out in favor of a Tiktok ban during his first term in office and had already taken the first steps in this direction. However, during his campaign to return to the White House, Trump became a real Tiktok fan, as the app had developed into an important communication channel for him with young voters.

It initially remained unclear how Trump wanted to permanently prevent a ban from Tiktok in view of the law confirmed by the Supreme Court. The law passed by Congress is “virtually president-proof,” said Adam Kovacevich, head of the technology business association Chamber of Progress, with a view to Trump.

On Saturday (local time) Tiktok blocked access for US users. A message to users said Tiktok could not be used “for the time being.” However, in the same message, the platform already indicated that there was hope for the service to be restored under the future US President Trump and that Trump had indicated his willingness to work on a “solution”.

Meanwhile, Estonia’s Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna suggested a US-style Tiktok ban in Europe as well. “We have seen that Tiktok spreads disinformation and is a platform for election manipulation,” Tsahkna wrote on X on Sunday. In addition, the “extensive collection of data” by Tiktok is “known to be a serious security risk.”

  • Tiktok

  • USA

  • Donald Trump

  • Shutdown

  • Video platform

  • Smartphone

  • Sunday

  • ByteDance Ltd.

  • Future

  • US President

  • Supreme Court

  • Beijing