TikTok Resumes Service in the U.S. After Trump’s Promise to Lift Ban

TikTok has resumed service to its 170 million U.S. users after being temporarily shut down. The suspension was lifted following a promise from U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to extend the deadline before a law banning the platform took effect.

On January 20, 2025, Trump announced that access to TikTok would be restored once he officially takes office. Hours after the Biden administration’s order led to the temporary shutdown, TikTok expressed gratitude to Trump for his intervention.

ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, has reached an agreement with Trump to continue operating the app in the U.S. The company pledged to support the growth of over 7 million small businesses and bring the app to 170 million Americans.

In exchange for security reasons, Trump has requested a 50 percent stake in TikTok's U.S. operations. He plans to issue an executive order lifting the ban once he assumes office.

This is a shift from Trump’s previous stance, as he had criticized TikTok in 2020 for allegedly sharing Americans' personal data with the Chinese government. That August, he signed an executive order giving ByteDance 90 days to sell TikTok. Eventually, an agreement was reached with Oracle and Walmart to take a stake in the new company.