TikTok reinstated itself in the United States after 14 hours of being down, crediting President Donald Trump. He signed an executive order Monday, delaying a Supreme Court ruling on the TikTok ban for 75 days.
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the TikTok ban last Friday and began enforcing the new law Saturday night when many American users noticed an unusual error message on their screens that blocked app accessibility.
“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,” the message said. “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!”
TikTok ceased operations in the U.S. late Saturday, and the app was down for over 14 hours. User and non-user reactions to the TikTok blackout were mixed.
“I was indifferent,” MTSU student Ethan Williams said. “I remember my girlfriend texted me when it happened. She felt real sad about it. But after a couple hours, I mean, she was over it.”
Many TikTok users noticed a similar message prevented user access to CapCut, a popular video editing software created and owned by the same company as TikTok, ByteDance. Apple published a list of other affected ByteDance apps on the Apple Store: Lemon8, CapCut, Marvel Snap, Gauth, Hypic and Lark.
Apple and Google remained compliant with the Supreme Court’s decision and removed TikTok and all ByteDance apps from their platforms. Most users who uninstalled TikTok before the ban found they could not download the app again, as the Apple and Google stores have not reinstated it.
Other companies like Oracle and Akamai assisted TikTok in restoring its services to the U.S., but they’ve received backlash from lawmakers and could potentially face fines up to $5,000 per person, according to NPR.
“We commend Amazon, Apple, Google, and Microsoft for following the law and halting operations with ByteDance and TikTok, and we encourage other companies to do the same,” Arkansas Sen. Tom Ricketts said in a press release. “The law, after all, risks ruinous bankruptcy for any company who violates it.”
Jason Reineke, an associate professor at MTSU, focuses on public opinion, political communication and freedom of expression, and he said the restoration of TikTok over the weekend was legally questionable.
“[The] legal and policy, big question mark about that…time period over the weekend…What was the legality of that and…what does it mean for where we go from here?” Reineke said.
The executive order, called “The Application of Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act to TikTok” clarifies the Trump administration will use the extra 75 days to come to an agreement with TikTok while maintaining public safety.
“Accordingly, I am instructing the Attorney General not to take any action to enforce the Act for a period of 75 days from today while avoiding an abrupt shutdown of a communications platform used by millions of Americans…[and] to determine the appropriate course of action with respect to TikTok,” according to the Act.
President Trump shifted his view on the platform since his last presidency, possibly due to increased support for his current term, Reineke said.
“Trump, during his first term, was a proponent of the legislation that said the site would have to sell to an American owner or shut down,” Reineke said.
It is not clear if Trump will implement changes to this agreement to “maintain public safety” at this time.
Ricketts spoke against the legitimacy of Trump’s executive order in a press release.
“Now that the law has taken effect, there’s no legal basis for any kind of ‘extension’ of its effective date,” Ricketts said.
