The TikTok app logo is displayed on an iPhone Friday, Jan. 17, in Houston.
Ashley Landis/AP
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Ashley Landis/AP
After a power outage which lasted about 14 hours, TikTok is back in the United States
The hugely popular video app was taken offline Saturday evening, in line with a law banning the service nationwide unless it splits from ByteDance, its China-based owner. Last week, the Supreme Court enforces the law.
On Saturday, Google and Apple removed the app from their stores, a requirement of the ban, which also prohibits web hosting companies from providing back-end support for the app.
When Biden officials said they would leave enforcement to the Trump administration, web hosting services weren’t sure they wouldn’t be sued. The law provides for harsh penalties for violations, which could cost businesses billions.
On Sunday morning, President-elect Donald Trump effectively reversed the blackout with a single message on his social network Truth Social: issued a statement pledging to suspend the law and said he would extend liability protection to tech companies that support TikTok, while the app’s future is determined by his new administration.
Soon after, companies that provide web support, including Oracle and Akamai, restored the TikTok website and app for millions of users in USB. But Trump’s message Sunday gave web providers the reassurance they needed to bring back TikTok, according to a person close to it. to TikTok’s ongoing discussions with the Biden administration and Trump’s transition team, which was not authorized to speak about the talks.
TikTok’s future remains clouded by legal and political questions.
Apple and Google, which operate the all-powerful app stores for mobile devices, still disagree on letting TikTok return.
Without the support of these two companies, TikTok cannot be downloaded by new users; the application cannot receive vital software updates to fix bugs and other issues; and the app’s multibillion-dollar economy comes to a halt, with users unable to buy and sell items.
Neither company responded to a request for comment. Legal experts said the tech giants may wait to see whether Trump will follow the letter of the law, which requires the White House to certify to Congress that a deal to sell TikTok is in the works before it can suspend enforcement of the ban. Otherwise, companies like Apple and Google could, in theory, face heavy financial penalties.
Beyond the Apple and Google slump, some Washington lawmakers are raising doubts about Trump’s ability to intervene without meeting specific requirements laid out in the law.
Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Sunday that Trump does not have the authority to delay the effective date of a law already on the books. He noted in a post on that for Apple, Google and other companies, helping TikTok before its separation from ByteDance could have serious consequences.
“Any company that hosts, distributes, maintains or otherwise facilitates communist-controlled TikTok could face billions of dollars in ruinous liability under the law,” Cotton wrote. “Not just from the DOJ, but also under securities law, shareholder suits and state attorneys general,” he continued, referring to the Department of Justice and state attorneys general. “Think about it.”
