The US Supreme Court approved the proposal to ban Tiktok in the country on Friday due to security concerns surrounding the platform's ties to China. A deadline for Chinese Bytedance to sell the platform to a US owner expired on Sunday.
The background is that Tiktok is accused of giving China an opportunity to spy on American users and gather information about them. The US also believes that Tiktok is a channel for spreading propaganda, which Bytedance has denied.
On Sunday, Bytedance shut down the app, and American users who logged in were met with the message "Tiktok is currently unavailable".
The app was also no longer available for download.
Given a deadline
The message also stated: "A law banning Tiktok has been passed in the US", but it continued optimistically:
"We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reintroduce Tiktok when he takes office".
At the same time, Trump, who was sworn in on Monday, clarified that he would immediately give Tiktok a 90-day deadline allowing them to continue their operations.
He also urged American business actors to invest in business deals to take over half of Tiktok's American part and be able to relaunch the app.
Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social: "SAVE TIKTOK".
The President can give a deadline on the condition that a sales process is ongoing. According to media reports, AI company Perplexity AI contacted Bytedance over the weekend and proposed a merger with Tiktok's American part through a bid.
"Strong stance"
The new corporate structure would enable most of Bytedance's current investors to retain their ownership shares, according to a source with insight into the matter.
Shortly afterwards, Tiktok announced that services were on their way to being restored in the US since Trump had given necessary assurances about the way forward, according to NBC News.
"It's a strong stance for the First Amendment and against arbitrary censorship. We will work with President Trump for a long-term solution that keeps Tiktok in the US", the company added about Trump's support.
The First Amendment to the US Constitution deals with freedom of speech.
Measurements over the past two years by the independent opinion institute Pew Research Center in Washington show that 63 percent of all 13-17-year-olds in the US use Tiktok, of which 57 percent daily.
In the age group 18-29, 59 percent have Tiktok, among 30-49-year-olds it is 40 percent, and among 50-64-year-olds 26 percent. In the group 65 and older, it falls to 10 percent.
Of adult Americans, over 18 years old, 33 percent say they use Tiktok.
52 percent of adult users have ever made a post on the platform.
Of the public posts published by adult Americans, 98 percent come from the quarter of users within the group who are most active on Tiktok.
55 percent of people who regularly consume news on Tiktok define themselves as Democrats, while 39 percent see themselves as Republicans.
Source: Pew Research Center
