TikTok told its 170 million US users on Sunday that it was “restoring service,” a few hours after Donald Trump said he would give the app a reprieve.
The app had stopped working for Americans on Saturday evening, when a law banning it on national security grounds took effect. Soon after Trump’s promise, it began working again, and a popup thanked him by name. In a statement the company credited the president-elect with “providing the necessary clarity and assurance,” and said it would work with him on “a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States.” TikTok CEO Shou Chew is expected at Trump’s inauguration on Monday.
What Trump promised
Writing on Truth Social, Trump said: “I’m asking companies not to let TikTok stay dark! I will issue an executive order on Monday to extend the period of time before the law’s prohibitions take effect, so that we can make a deal to protect our national security.” He added that the order would confirm there would be “no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark.”
It is a turnaround. Trump once backed a ban, but lately has professed a “warm spot” for the app and pointed to the billions of views he says his videos drew during last year’s campaign.
The BBC noted that it is unclear what legal authority he has to delay a law already in force. It expected his government not to enforce the ban if he signs the order. Outgoing President Joe Biden’s administration had already said it would not enforce the law in its last hours, leaving the matter to Trump. TikTok went dark anyway.
Legal doubts remain
Under the law passed last April, the US version of the app had to be removed from app stores and web-hosting services unless its Chinese owner, ByteDance, sold its US operations. Congress passed it with support from both parties, and the Supreme Court upheld it unanimously earlier this week. TikTok had argued before the court that the law violated its users’ free speech rights.
Senator Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, broke with Trump. “Any company that hosts, distributes, services, or otherwise facilitates communist-controlled TikTok could face hundreds of billions of dollars of ruinous liability under the law,” he wrote on social media. Marco Rubio, Trump’s pick for Secretary of State, had called TikTok an extension of “the Chinese Communist Party’s power and influence into our own nation.” Asked whether he backed Trump’s effort, he told Punchbowl: “If I’m confirmed as secretary of State, I’ll work for the president.”
During the court hearings, Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar was adamant that an executive order cannot change the law retroactively. Justice Sonia Sotomayor said: “Whatever the new president does, doesn’t change that reality for these companies.”
The app store question is the murkiest part. TikTok was pulled from Apple’s and Google’s stores in anticipation of the ban, and University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias said it remains unclear whether app stores or hosting platforms can support it. He pointed to a provision letting a president postpone the ban up to 90 days if the company shows substantial progress on national security concerns, though he said it is not clear those conditions are met. “The best thing Trump could do is work with Congress,” he said.
Several states have also sued the platform, which could open the way to local bans even if it stays available nationally.
