Less than 24 hours after dim, TikTok says it is back online after President-elect Donald Trump assured the company’s service providers – likely Apple, Google and Oracle – that his administration would not enforce a law banning the app in the first place.
“In consultation with our service providers, TikTok is in the process of restoring services,” the company said in a statement. “We thank President Trump for providing our service providers with needed clarity and assurances that they will not face any penalties for bringing TikTok to more than 170 million Americans and enabling more than 7 million miniature businesses to thrive. This is a mighty support for the First Amendment and opposition to arbitrary censorship. We will work with President Trump on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States.”
It’s the latest salvo in the dramatic fight over TikTok’s future in the US. Last year, Congress passed a law that required ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese parent company, to divest its U.S. operations or face a ban effective Jan. 19. TikTok sued on First Amendment grounds but lost in the Supreme Court. Last night, Apple and Google removed the app from their app stores, along with many other apps developed by ByteDance.
This is a developing story.