On the evening of 18th January 2025, TikTok officially went offline in the US, due to a ban put on the social media platform by the US government over national security concerns.
TikTok was directed to diversify its US operations with a 19th January dateline or will have to face the fate of being banned in the country. TikTok and its parent company ByteDance challenged the law but had no luck.
TikTok went dark but no worries, President Trump is here to help
At the end, TikTok’s owner, ByteDance, ignored the law, resulting it to come into effect on Sunday. TikTok then voluntarily shut down its service in the evening of 18th January 2025, which meant users in the US or those who used a US VPN were unable to watch content on the platform. Instead they were greeted with this popup message:
On Sunday, US President-elect Donald Trump, who once threatened to ban the social platform in 2020, promised to issue an executive order to suspend the TikTok ban, according to a post he made on Truth Social.
“I’m asking companies not to let TikTok stay dark! I will issue an executive order on Monday 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”, he said in the post. “The order will also confirm that there will be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before my order”, he added.
According to the post, Donald Trump also suggested that the US own a 50% ownership position in a joint venture with TikTok, allowing TikTok to stay up. Previously, Elon Musk was one of the potential parties expected to buy up TikTok’s US operations, but it turns out that this didn’t (or has yet) to take place.
TikTok is back in the US, but the ban is still in effect
Not long after TikTok’s shutdown in the US, the app was working once again, with a popup message thanking Trump by name. TikTok also released a statement via its TikTok Policy account on X (formerly Twitter), announcing that it is in the process of restoring service after reaching an agreement with its service providers.
The company 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. TikTok says that it will work with Trump on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the US.
According to the law which was passed by the US Congress in April 2024, the US version of the TikTok app had to be removed from app stores and web-hosting services if it refused to sell its US operations.
But even if Donald Trump chooses to not enforce the ban, the law is still in effect, which will penalise parties that allow TikTok to operate with massive fines, potential lawsuits, and so on. Parties involved include app stores like Apple and Google, cloud providers like Oracle, and internet service providers (ISPs).
Donald Trump is set to be sworn in as the 47th US President sometime today (20th January). TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is expected to attend the inauguration.
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