After a block of just 14 hours, TikTok returned to work following Donald Trump’s promise to suspend the ban as soon as he took office. But the conditions of the law now in force are quite stringent.
No sooner said than done. Just 14 hours after TikTok was blocked in the United States as a result of the law desired by theBiden administration and confirmed by the Supreme Court last Friday, the parent company, the Chinese ByteDanceis restoring the social network on the devices of around 170 million American users. What convinced her was the commitment of Donald Trumpwho will take office as president of the United States today, Monday 20 January.
Speaking of sudden about-faces, Trump has also entered the conflict between ByteDance and the United States with a rather rough gear shift. The new president himself had supported the same national security reasons which led a large bipartisan majority in Congress to approve the law in April 2024. Today, however, things have completely changed and Trump, in his role as champion of social media, seems to have become theonly possibility for TikTok to remain lit in the United States without submitting to the conditions imposed by law.
Because TikTok is working again
ByteDance has in fact decided to restore TikTok on American devices after the commitment that Trump made publicly on his social network Truth Social, where on Sunday evening he promised that on Monday, therefore as soon as he officially assumed office, he would issue an executive order to buy time and postpone the entry into force of the law – in reality the deadline was yesterday – “so that we could make an agreement to protect our national security“, asking companies not to deactivate their social media accounts.
Now Donald Trump wants to become the champion of TikTok, the appeal on Truth social: “Let’s save him”
In short, the situation is not resolved yet, but this change of gear was enough to make Chinese society breathe a sigh of relief, which for some time now he’s betting everything on the president about to settle in. During the hours it was disabled, when users tried to log in, this message would appear on their device:
“Sorry, TikTok is currently unavailable. We are fortunate that President Trump will work with us on a solution to restore TikTok once he takes office. Stay tuned!”
What Trump promised
The law that started it all became reality on Friday the Supreme Court rejected ByteDance’s appealthe company had put on the table the right to freedom of expression which it said the new law would violate. The law requires TikTok to give up the platform. Otherwise the social network would have been blacked out and removed from US app stores and hosting services effective January 19.
Instead, Trump’s pledge to suspend the ban appears to open the door to a third path. At least that’s what TikTok hopes, which in the announcement of the restoration of services defined the new president’s decision as “a strong position in favor of the First Amendment and against arbitrary censorship.”
What scenarios are opening up now
“We thank President Trump for providing much-needed clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will not face sanctions providing TikTok to beyond 170 million Americans and enabling more than 7 million small businesses to thrive,” the company said, which then added, “We will work with President Trump on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States.”
Promises aside, however, it remains to be understood whether Trump will actually be able to postpone the implementation of a law already in force. However – explains the BBC – the new president probably expects that his government will not implement the law when it issues an executive order to block it, even if, if this were to conflict with the law, it could be challenged in court. The only possibility of suspending the ban permitted by law would allow the president to postpone its introduction by 90 days, if there is evidence that the company is implementing concrete solutions to solve national security problems.
