TikTok restoring service after Trump vows executive order pausing ban

TikTok announced it is restoring service Sunday after President-elect Donald Trump said he would issue an executive order to pause the ban on the wildly popular app.

TikTok shut down operations late Saturday night, hours before a ban on the app was set to take effect. Anyone opening the TikTok app was greeted with a short message and unable to do anything else.

“We regret that a U.S. law banning TikTok will take effect on January 19 and force us to make our services temporarily unavailable,” the initial message read. “We’re working to restore our service in the U.S. as soon as possible, and we appreciate your support. Please stay tuned.”

“Scrolling Twitter because TikTok is gone but every tweet is about TikTok,” one social media user observed after the ban.

Just a few hours later, the message was changed to read in part: “We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office.”

Trump, who will be sworn in Monday, has gone back and forth on a TikTok ban during his political career. In June 2020, he said he was considering a ban and in August 2020 he issued a vague executive order about the app.

But after President Biden signed the actual ban — which passed Congress with bipartisan support — into law in April 2024, Trump started to argue that he would “save TikTok” if elected.

On Sunday morning, he posted on social media that he would issue a 90-day extension and pause the law. However, his proposed solution involved TikTok owner ByteDance selling a 50% stake in the app to U.S. interests.

ByteDance has said previously that it has no plans to sell TikTok. Several deals have been proposed that would see U.S.-based corporations take control of the app, but none have been completed.

“Without U.S. approval, there is no Tik Tok,” Trump wrote Sunday morning. “With our approval, it is worth hundreds of billions of dollars – maybe trillions.”

TikTok’s sudden shutdown Saturday night came as a surprise to many. Tech experts said the so-called “TikTok ban” law did not actually prevent the app from functioning in the U.S. but instead banned it from application stores. TikTok was indeed removed from Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store, so it can no longer be downloaded through major channels.

“In agreement with our service providers, TikTok is in the process of restoring service,” the company posted shortly after noon Sunday. “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 million Americans and allowing over 7 million small businesses to thrive. It’s a strong stand for the First Amendment and against arbitrary censorship. We will work with President Trump on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States.”