It’s been a wild weekend for TikTok, US users, and US legislators. TikTok lost its final battle against the government, with the Supreme Court upholding the divest-or-ban law late last week with a historic 9-0 vote. On Saturday, TikTok decided to shut down service in the US, with over 170 million Americans finding themselves unable to get their TikTok fix for several hours.
Apple and Google removed the app from the App Store and Google Play, with other service providers shutting down support.
But TikTok stayed down for less than a day, as President-elect Donald Trump posted a message on Truth Social asking tech companies “not to let TikTok stay dark.” Trump said he would issue an executive order on Monday that would give TikTok time to comply with the law before risking the ban.
TikTok thanked Trump as it resumed service in the US, but that only means that the social network is working on devices that had the social network installed before the interruption of service.
Apple and Google have not relisted TikTok in the App Store and Google Play, and it’s likely it won’t happen until Trump actually issues the executive order on Monday, after his inauguration.
Apple and Google might have chosen not to relist TikTok in their digital marketplaces and make the app available for download because of concerns about the law.
While Trump promised in his Truth Social message that US firms who help TikTok restore service in the US will not be liable for essentially not complying with the new divest-or-ban law after he urged them to restore service, that’s still just a promise on a different social network.
Making the app available to download before an executive order comes out postponing the ban would mean risking huge fines, despite Trump’s Truth Social promise. That’s $5,000 per user, and TikTok has millions of users in the US.
Meanwhile, TikTok hosting and CDN providers (Oracle and Akamai, respectively) have helped TikTok restore service after Trump promised that they wouldn’t risk fines.
It’s likely that once Trump issues the executive order postponing the TikTok ban for a few months, both Apple and Google will relist TikTok. If you deleted the app during the weekend, you’ll be able to redownload it. If Trump goes forward with the order, it’s probably a matter of time before TikTok becomes available in the two app stores.
As The Verge points out, TikTok appears confident it’ll resume service in the US as before Saturday. The company sent a memo to advertisers on Sunday afternoon to inform them that the service will soon “become available for the majority of U.S. users.”
A ban is still going to happen if TikTok doesn’t comply with the law. Trump’s order will only delay it. The president-elect said on Truth Social that he’d like to see the US have a 50% stake in a future version of TikTok. “Without US approval, there is no TikTok,” he said.
Chinese giant ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, never showed interest in selling the app to a US entity. It’s unclear what will happen next, but TikTok applauded President-elect Trump’s message. “It’s a strong stand for the First Amendment and against arbitrary censorship. We will work with President Trump on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States,” TikTok said in a statement.
TikTok is not available to download in China. It has never been.
