That didn’t last long. Shortly after taking office, President Donald Trump signed a number of executive orders. Among them was a temporary suspension of the law that banned TikTok in the US.
With the executive order, Trump’s Justice Department will not enforce the Protection of Americans from Foreign Enemy Controlled Applications Act for 75 days, effectively extending the time the company must reach. In a statement, Trump said the “unfortunate timing” of the law, which went into effect during President Joe Biden’s final hours in office, “impairs my ability to evaluate the national security and foreign policy of the ban before it takes effect.”
He wrote that he would review “critical intelligence” related to national security concerns raised by critics of the app and “assess the adequacy of the mitigation measures taken by TikTok to date.” The company previously undertook a multi-year effort, known as Project Texas, to move US user data to servers managed by Oracle. The plan came after years of negotiations with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), but those talks were put on hold last year.
TikTok (and other ByteDance apps) went offline late Saturday ahead of the rule that will go into effect on Sunday. The end of TikTok lasted only a few hours. Service has been gradually restored after Trump promised to sign an executive order suspending the law after his inauguration on Monday. He confirmed that “there will be no liability to any company that helps TikTok not go black before my order.” Trump also proposed a joint venture that would see US interests take a 50 percent stake in TikTok.
Earlier on Monday, China (where ByteDance is based) showed openness to striking a deal with the US that would allow TikTok to remain active there for a long time, despite previously saying it would block forced sales of the app. “When it comes to actions such as operating and acquiring businesses, we believe that they should be decided by companies independently in accordance with market principles,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning. “When it concerns Chinese companies, China’s laws and regulations must be respected.”
During his first administration, Trump wanted to ban TikTok in the US. He signed executive orders in that regard, including an effort to force ByteDance to sell its US business. That didn’t happen then. But pressure on TikTok increased during the Biden administration, with the former president signing a bill last year that required ByteDance to sell TikTok or face a US ban.