- TikTok went dark for 14 hours on 19 January
- Its return was lauded as a success for President Donald Trump
- Questions remain about its future in the US
TikTok might not be out of the woods yet regarding the US ban.
This is despite President Donald Trump making all the moves to revive the app. On Monday, he signed an executive order to pause the federal ban.
Read more: Is Mr Beast buying TikTok?
Despite this presidential intervention, worries remain. One of these is that only some app stores are hosting TikTok again. While it is currently ready for download via Oracle, it is not on Apple or Android.
Read more: What Executive Orders did President Donald Trump sign?
Additionally, neither platform offers any apps made by TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance.
Why was the app banned?
Over the weekend, the app went dark for 170 million users for hours due to bipartisan legislation accusing TikTok of sharing US data with the Chinese government.
The move was confirmed by the Supreme Court, which rejected TikTok’s claim it was a violation of the First Amendment.
What did TikTok say upon its return?
Upon its return, TikTok account holders were informed the service was back thanks to the incoming president Trump.
“In agreement with our service providers, TikTok is in the process of restoring service. We thank 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,” the TikTok statement read.
Read more: TikTok’s back…. after just 14 hours
In a show of things to come, the app’s CEO, Shou Zi Chew, was seated at the 47th Presidential Inauguration on 20 January.
His position on the guestlist meant joining other tech moguls like Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Open AI founder Sam Altman were also attended.
Why did President Donald Trump bring back TikTok?
While signing the executive order to give TikTok a 75-day extension, Trump explained that a lot of his wealthy friends and colleagues had gotten in touch with him about the looming ban.
“I tell you what. Every rich person has called me about TikTok,” he told reporters in the Oval Office.
When asked why he has changed his tune on TikTok since his 2020 attempt to ban it, he said, “Because I got to use it.”
