One day before his inauguration, president-elect Donald Trump pledged to issue a day one executive order intended to save TikTok, despite being a main proponent of a ban during his first term.
Posting to Truth Social on Jan. 19, Trump wrote that he was looking to “extend the period of time before the law’s prohibitions take effect” and foster a “deal to protect our national security,” suggesting that he intends to broker a joint venture that would result in an American company taking 50 percent ownership. He called on companies to “not let TikTok go dark” and said he could “confirm that there will be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before my order.”
TikTok quickly responded, saying it was working to reinstate service following Trump’s statements. The app was up and running for existing users shortly after, although it still remains off U.S. app stores. “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,” wrote the platform on their official policy account on X.
Despite Trump only promising to work on saving the app, and not yet bestowed with executive power, a new pop-up notification on the platform reads:
Welcome back!
Thanks for your patience and support. As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.!
You can continue to create, share, and discover all the things you love on TikTok.
Credit: Screenshot / TikTok
In a reversal from his previous stance and executive orders during his first presidential term, Trump has turned in favor of the China-owned company over the last year. Last month, the president-elect sent an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court arguing he is uniquely positioned to save TikTok and protect the country’s national security objectives, asking the court to grant a stay on the ban. The court later upheld the ban.
Trump and tech’s biggest names have been courting each other’s favor for months, especially following Trump’s campaign victory. On Jan. 17, TikTok CEO Shou Chew posted a public message to users in which he thanked Trump for his efforts to reinstate the app. “This is a strong stand for the First Amendment and against arbitrary censorship,” said Chew. “We are grateful and pleased to have the support of a president who truly understands our platform — one who has used TikTok to express his own thoughts and perspectives, connecting with the world and generating more than 60 billion views of his content in the process.”
Not long after the app went dark, TikTok altered an in-app pop up message alerting users to the ban. The original message read:
We regret that a U.S. law banning TikTok will take effect on January 19 and force us to make our services temporarily unavailable.
We’re working to restore our service in the U.S. as soon as possible, and we appreciate your support. Please stay tuned.
The revised notification read:
A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now.
We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned!
The pop-up was then removed.
It’s not just TikTok, either. Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, and Tesla/ X owner Elon Musk, who is set to score an advisory position under the new administration, have also publicly praised Trump and his policy positions, particularly surrounding his controversial stances on content moderation and free speech. Meta recently overhauled its moderation and DEI policies in the name of a more “free speech” supportive platform, abolishing its diversity mandates and loosening its hate speech policies to include previously banned forms of content. And OpenAI’s Sam Altman has defended his decision to donate millions in personal contributions to Trump’s inaugural fund, in response to a letter from U.S. Senators hinting at possible corruption.
Many of Big Tech’s inner circle, including Chew, are expected to appear at the inaugural swearing-in ceremony on Monday.
UPDATE: Jan. 19, 2025, 1:58 p.m. EST This piece was updated to include a new in-app notification added shortly after TikTok reinstated service.
