TikTok temporarily stopped working in the United States on Saturday night ahead of a law coming into force on Sunday banning the social media platform unless it is sold off by its parent company, which is accused of having close links to the Chinese state.
But Trump confirmed on Sunday that he intends to sign an executive order delaying the enforcement of the ban, prompting TikTok to start restoring access to the app and its services.
"As a result of president Trump's efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.," the platform said in a message to users.
Trump suggested during the day that the app’s current owners could remain part of a potential new ownership model along with American investors.
“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 wrote on his Truth Social network.
“I would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture. By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands and allow it to [stay] up.”
He explained that his “initial thought” was that the company could be split 50-50 between U.S. investors and the "current owners and/or new owners”.
The president-elect added that the executive order would ensure that businesses which helped keep TikTok from shutting down would not be liable to legal action.
The platform, which is used by 170 million Americans, is seen as a national security risk by many Democrat and Republican lawmakers in the U.S. Congress overwhelmingly passed legislation last year banning the app unless ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese owner, sells it off by Sunday, January 19.
With the deadline looming, TikTok disappeared from Google and Apple’s app stores on Saturday night, and existing users were greeted with a notice on their app.
"A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S,” the message read.
“We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned," it added.
Along with TikTok, other apps owned by ByteDance, including video editing app CapCut and lifestyle social app Lemon8, also went offline.
Trump’s prospective National Security Adviser, Mike Waltz, said on Sunday that the incoming administration would not rule out continued Chinese ownership of the social media platform if steps were taken to ensure that American users' data was protected and stored in the U.S.
However, Republican House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson sent contradictory signals, saying that he believed Trump would push for ByteDance to sell the app.
“The way we read that is that he's going to try to force along a true divestiture, changing of hands, ownership,” Johnson said, quoted by the Reuters news agency.
“It's not the platform that members of Congress were concerned about. It's the Chinese Communist Party.”
It’s not the first time Trump has tried to deal with the security risks posed by TikTok. During his first term as president, he also tried to force ByteDance to sell the popular app.
