If you tried to open TikTok late on Saturday night, chances are you were blocked from your typical never-ending doom scroll. At around 10:30 p.m. — just hours before the impending ban — the app went completely dark for users, only displaying a brief message: “Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now. 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 he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Stay tuned!”
In April 2024, former President Joe Biden signed a law requiring TikTok’s Chinese-owned parent company, ByteDance, to sell the app or face a ban. After months of legal battles, the fight came to a head last Friday, with the Supreme Court set to determine the app’s fate. On Friday morning, the court unanimously upheld the law, giving TikTok just two days before the ban would go into effect. Later that day, TikTok announced it would go dark, posting on X, “The statements issued today by both the Biden White House and the Department of Justice have failed to provide the necessary clarity and assurance to the service providers that are integral to maintaining TikTok’s availability to over 170 million Americans…”
The White House quickly criticized TikTok’s statement, with Biden calling it a “stunt.” “We see no reason for TikTok or other companies to take actions in the next few days before the Trump Administration takes office on Monday,” he added. However, his remarks were largely ignored. By Saturday night, TikTok was no longer available for download on the Apple and Google Play app stores. Influencers across the country were left distraught and confused.
“I’ve already opened and closed the app probably six times just to get the same stupid warning message. This is so dystopian!” influencer James Charles shared on Instagram. Another popular influencer, Alix Earle, posted a tearful video of herself holding a glass of wine.
The blackout, however, was short-lived. By Sunday afternoon, the app was back online, and TikTok users flooded the platform in confusion — what had happened?
TikTok posted a statement on X, announcing that they were restoring service and thanked President Donald Trump for his role in bringing the app back. “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,” the statement read.
On Sunday morning, Trump announced on his self-owned platform, Truth Social, that he would issue an executive order extending the time before the TikTok ban could take effect. True to his word, on Monday, he followed through with an executive order delaying the enforcement of the ban by 75 days.
The order instructed the attorney general to refrain from enforcing the ban — which would penalize app stores for carrying the app — while his administration worked to find an appropriate solution. Trump expressed interest in a 50–50 partnership between ByteDance and a U.S.-based company, even suggesting that he would be open to billionaire Elon Musk or Larry Ellison, one of the co-founders of Oracle, purchasing the app.
It’s unclear how effective this move will be. Companies bound by the law may be unwilling to take on the risk of potential legal consequences. On Sunday, when the ban officially went into effect, Apple released a statement saying that it was “obligated to follow the laws in the jurisdictions where it operates.” As a result, TikTok, along with several other ByteDance apps like Lemon8 and CapCut, was removed from the app stores. These apps have not reappeared as of yet, despite the extension of the ban. It’s likely that companies are waiting for clearer protections before fully bypassing the ban.
What does the future of TikTok look like? Unfortunately, the answer seems even more uncertain than it did just a week ago. Trump’s executive order does not mean TikTok is no longer banned. While he seems committed to finding a solution, he could face resistance from his own party. Republican Sens. Tom Cotton and Pete Ricketts released a joint statement expressing firm opposition to delaying the ban. There are also questions about the legality of Trump’s decision. Does the president even have the authority to issue an extension on a ban that has already gone into place?
As of now, the most likely solutions are either forcing a sale of TikTok to a new buyer or passing a new law to reverse the ban. However, the latter seems unlikely, given the overwhelming support the original bill had in Congress. Trump, though, appears confident that he will be able to find a solution.
“Every rich person has called me about TikTok,” he said on Monday night, though he did not provide specifics. Notably, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg were all seated in the front row at his inauguration. “When you take a look at telephones made in China and all other things made in China, military equipment made in China,” Trump said, “I think TikTok is not their biggest problem.”
He added, “Remember, TikTok is largely about kids, young kids. If China is going to get information about young kids, I don’t know. To be honest with you, I think we have bigger problems than that.”
