Following President-elect Donald Trump’s announcement that he would restore the app’s availability in the United States upon his return to office on Monday, TikTok started to restore its services on Sunday. “To be honest, we have no other option.” At a rally on Sunday before his inauguration, Trump declared, “We have to save it.” He also claimed that the United States will look for a joint venture to restore the program. About 170 million Americans use the app to share short videos.
“As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.” TikTok sent this statement to its users just hours before the protest. Earlier, American users claimed that they could access the Chinese-owned service’s website. Meanwhile, the much more popular TikTok app started to relaunch for certain users with only a few basic features. The company released an earlier statement. However, the app was not available for download on U.S. app stores late on Sunday.
President Trump Pledge to Extend Tiktok
“In agreement with our service providers, TikTok is in the process of restoring service,” according to the previous statement. The statement also thanked 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.”
The day before Trump took office, TikTok publicly thanked him. This comes at a time when U.S.-China ties are fraught. Although Trump has stated that he plans to impose tariffs on China, he has also stated that he would like to speak with the Chinese leader more directly.
According to ministry spokesperson Mao Ning, “American users deeply love TikTok, which has operated in the U.S. for many years.” She added, “We hope that the U.S. can earnestly listen to the voice of reason and provide an open, fair, just, and non-discriminatory business environment for firms operating there.”
Late on Saturday, TikTok ceased operations for American users. On Sunday, a statute that shut it down for national security reasons went into effect. U.S. officials had raised concerns about the abuse of American data under the Chinese parent company ByteDance.
The president pledged 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.”
Plan of Merging
On his Truth Social platform, he posted, “I would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture.” According to Trump, the executive order would state that any business that assisted in preventing the TikTok ban before his directive would not face liability.
In a note sent to users on the app, TikTok highlighted Trump’s earlier statement. He said that he would probably grant the service a 90-day reprieve from the ban after taking office. According to a source familiar with the company’s intentions, Perplexity AI, a U.S. search engine startup, bid on Saturday for Perplexity to merge with TikTok U.S. and ByteDance.
According to the source, Perplexity would combine with TikTok U.S. and form a new company. The company would combine the two businesses with additional partners. Institutional investors like BlackRock and General Atlantic own roughly 60% of the privately held ByteDance. The company’s founders and staff own the remaining 20%. In the US, the corporation has more than 7,000 employees.
