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Key Points
- President-elect Donald Trump plans to issue an executive order extending TikTok’s accessibility in the US.
- The extension will allow for negotiations over a deal to split ownership of the platform with the US.
- TikTok began restoring its services after Trump assured service providers they would not face penalties.
President-elect Donald Trump says he plans to issue an executive order extending the period of time that TikTok can remain accessible in the United States.
Trump said he would “most likely” extend the period of time before the law’s prohibitions take effect.
“The 90-day extension is something that will be most likely done, because it’s appropriate,” Trump told NBC in an interview.
“If I decide to do that, I’ll probably announce it on Monday.”
Trump said the executive order would specify there would be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before his order.
US users reported being able to access the Chinese-owned service’s website while the far more widely used TikTok app itself began coming back online for some users with just a few basic services.
“In agreement with our service providers, TikTok is in the process of restoring service,” TikTok said in a statement that thanked Trump for “providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties (for) providing TikTok to over 170 million Americans and allowing over 7 million small businesses to thrive.”
TikTok stopped working for US users late on Saturday before a law shutting it down on national security grounds took effect on Sunday.
US officials had warned that under Chinese parent company ByteDance, there was a risk of citizens’ data being misused.
The law gives the incoming Trump administration sweeping authority to ban or seek the sale of other Chinese-owned apps.
The US has never banned a major social media platform.
Even if temporary, the unprecedented shutdown of TikTok is set to have a wide-ranging effect on US-China relations, US politics, the social media marketplace and millions of people in the United States who depend on the app economically and culturally.
Under the law passed last year and upheld on Friday by a unanimous US Supreme Court, the platform had until Sunday to cut ties with its China-based parent or shut down its US operation to resolve concerns it poses a threat to national security.
