TikTok is resuming service in the US

Less than 12 hours later TikTok has gone dark A video sharing app is coming back online in the US.

“In coordination with our service providers, TikTok is in the process of restoring service,” the company said in a statement. “We thank President Trump for providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties for providing TikTok to more than 170 million Americans and allowing more than 7 million small businesses to thrive.”

The law, which would force TikTok’s parent company ByteDance to sell the app or see it banned in the US, was supposed to take effect today. The law also made it illegal for US companies to support the distribution, maintenance or updating of software.

Officials from President Joe Biden’s White House and Department of Justice at the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump leave it to the Trump administration to enforce the lawbut TikTok said “critical service providers” needed a “definitive statement” or the app would go dark. And indeed, the app stopped working last night and it disappeared from the Apple and Google Play app stores.

However, the newly elected President Donald Trump announced this in the morning he would issue an executive order it would delay the ban, and he suggested he would like to see TikTok not reinstated sooner because “Americans deserve to see our exciting opening ceremony on Monday.” To that end, he said his order would “affirm that there will be no liability for any company that helped blackball TikTok prior to my order.”

This seemed to be enough reassurance for TikTok and its service providers. The TikTok app was working again for several TechCrunch writers until the company issued its statement. However, as of 1:05 PM Eastern, it is still not available in the Apple app store and Google Play.

In a tweet on Sunday morning, Trump indicated that TikTok’s “initial vision” for a deal to continue operating in the US would be “a joint venture between current owners and/or new owners in which the US acquires 50% ownership”.

In a statement, TikTok said it would “work with President Trump on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States.”