Approximately twelve hours after the shutdown in the United States, the TikTok is accessible again thanks to a direct intervention by President-elect Donald Trumpwhich had already previously asked for the suspension of a possible ban, following the confirmation of the ban by the US Supreme Court on the evening of Friday 17 January. The platform welcomed its members again with a thank you message addressed to Trump, giving him credit for the reactivation. This is yet another new chapter in the “saga” relating to the controversial history of the Chinese app in the USA. But it definitely won’t be the last. The reactivation of TikTok in the USA, in fact, is a temporary measure and the dark shadow of the ban on the Chinese app has not definitively vanished.
Why TikTok is back online in the USA
The temporary interruption of service occurred late on Saturday evening, when American users trying to access the app were informed via a pop-up that they were unable to use TikTok in the USA, due to the new law coming into force. which was created precisely with the aim of blocking the service on American soil. Apple and Google’s digital stores had also removed TikTok, along with other applications owned by China’s ByteDance, such as Lemon8 and CapCut. Last Sunday morning, however, Trump announced plans to sign an executive order to delay the legislation from taking effect and, a few hours later, the service was fully restored.
The news of the reactivation of TikTok in the USA will certainly have pleased the 170 million US users who use the app daily. But the situation remains uncertain: the law banning TikTok in the US has not been overturned and the platform risks facing new challenges in the coming months. In any case, in thanking Trump for his intervention, the Chinese company stated:
We thank President Trump for providing much-needed clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will not face penalties while providing TikTok to more than 170 million Americans and enabling more than 7 million small businesses to thrive. (…) We will work with President Trump on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States.
However, Trump has said he wants to work on a long-term solution, which could include a 50/50 joint venture between ByteDance and a new US owner. This proposal presents itself as an alternative to the total sale of the app to an American company, an option that China has always opposed.
The opposition expressed by some senators towards the return of TikTok to the USA
The law requiring the sale or ban of TikTok was passed with broad bipartisan support and there is no indication that Congress is willing to change it. Not surprisingly, some Republican senators, like Tom Cotton And Pete Rickettshave expressed their opposition to any extension of the ban, arguing that TikTok poses a threat to national security as long as it remains under ByteDance’s control. In this case, Cotton and Ricketts stated that TikTok should only return online «cutting all ties between TikTok and communist China. Only then will Americans be protected from the grave threat posed to their privacy and security by a communist-controlled TikTok».
The uncertain future of TikTok in the USA
The future of TikTok in the United States, therefore, still remains very uncertain. The sale to an American owner remains the most plausible solution to avoid a new block, but ByteDance has never shown itself (at least so far) interested in such a solution. Another solution could be to pass a new law that cancels the previous one. Considering that, as we have already said earlier, the existing bill had received broad bipartisan support in Congress, it is currently difficult to think that this last path is really viable.
