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Trump pauses TikTok ban

TikTok app

The new president wasted no time in getting TikTok back online in the U.S. – at least for now.

On Jan. 20, 2025, shortly following his inauguration as the 47th president of the United States, Donald Trump signed an executive order repealing a ban that had briefly gone into effect on TikTok in the U.S. for a 75-day review period.

This action followed a 9-0 ruling released Friday, Jan. 17, 2025 by the U.S. Supreme Court saying the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act would go into effect as scheduled on Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025, making it unlawful for U.S. companies to distribute, maintain, or update TikTok unless U. S. operation of the Chinese-owned platform is severed from Chinese control. 

In response to that ruling, the TikTok app briefly went dark in the U.S. from late evening ET Saturday, Jan. 18 to roughly noon ET Sunday, Jan. 19. U.S. service was then restored, with the app posting a message announcing its return on the official TikTok Policy X (social media network formerly known as Twitter) account.

"In agreement with our service providers, TikTok is in the process of restoring service," the company said in the post. "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 post also said TikTok will work with Trump to find a "long-term solution" to keep the video-focused social media app up and running in the U.S.

In the executive order, Trump said that he is instructing the attorney general not to enforce the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (which mandated TikTok parent ByteDance divest the app’s U.S. operations by Sunday, Jan. 19 or face a ban in the U.S.) for 75 days so his administration can determine an “orderly course forward” for TikTok in the U.S.

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The act includes language which allows the president to pause enforcement for as long as 90 days after it takes effect to pursue negotiations or alternate solutions to avoid permanently banning TikTok in the U.S.

TikTok receives government scrutiny - a brief history

The Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act was passed in April 2024 in response to longstanding concerns over possible ties between its China-based parent company ByteDance and the Chinese Communist Party and possible risks to U.S. user privacy (ByteDance and TikTok have publicly denied the validity of these concerns).

[READ MORE: Biden signs potential U.S. TikTok ban into law]

In a Jan. 17 post on his Truth Social social media network, Trump said he had a phone call with Chairman Xi Jinping of China that included discussion about TikTok. 

Although Trump and members of his cabinet publicly called for TikTok to divest its U.S. business or face a possible ban during his first term in 2020, he has publicly softened his position since then. In a March 2024 CNBC interview, Trump said a U.S. TikTok ban would just serve to make Facebook parent Meta bigger and called Facebook an "enemy of the people."

TikTok operates an e-commerce store in the U.S., partners with numerous U.S. retailers, and was ranked the second-most-used social platform by American teens by the Pew Research Center. 

In addition, a recent Numerator survey indicates that four-in-10 (41%) users say they would be upset if the app winds up being banned. That number increased to 57% of Gen Z users.

Editor’s Note: Chain Store Age will continue covering developments in TikTok’s U.S. operations.

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