After months of anxious anticipation of a ban and around 12 hours with no access to TikTok over the weekend, users of the popular social media app got a reprieve when President Donald Trump signed an executive order to “keep it alive.”
Has the new president managed to save the app for good, or is it still in peril? Here’s what we know.
In “The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act” – one of several orders signed by Trump as he began his second term in the White House – Trump instructed the attorney general not to act on regulation of TikTok for 75 days. Previous legislation regarding the video-sharing app signed by former President Joe Biden required a ban to kick in last Sunday if its China-based parent company ByteDance didn’t find a U.S. buyer.
“The unfortunate timing of section 2(a) of the Act — one day before I took office as the 47th President of the United States — interferes with my ability to assess the national security and foreign policy implications of the Act’s prohibitions before they take effect,” explained Trump in his order. “This timing also interferes with my ability to negotiate a resolution to avoid an abrupt shutdown of the TikTok platform while addressing national security concerns.”
Trump’s recent embrace of TikTok marks a shift from his stance on the app the last time he was in office from 2017 through 2021. Per the Associated Press, he led the effort to ban TikTok back then, and like other lawmakers from both sides of the aisle, raised concerns about it posing a threat to U.S. national security.
An estimated 170 million Americans use the app, and more than 1.9 billion use it worldwide. Some users even make their living on the app. According to Forbes, Trump told reporters he believes the U.S. is entitled to get 50% of TikTok. It also said Trump has warned China that he will consider a block of any purchase deal for the app an act of “hostility” and “put tariffs of 25, 30, 50%, even 100%” on the country.
Along with other big names in tech, it seems that leaders from TikTok have been making overtures to Trump as his new term begins. For example, the AP said that TikTok CEO Shou Chew met with him last month at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and attended the inauguration in Washington D.C. over the weekend.
“In a video responding to the Supreme Court decision, Chew was careful to praise Trump and cast the app’s fate as dependent on him,” said the AP.
Some also see recent changes at Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, as moves to align with the Trump administration. However, those moves – including an end to its third-party fact-checking program in the U.S. – have been met with a boycott, Forbes reported. Forbes said that Meta “faced criticism and scrutiny due to user reports of Democrat-related content being blocked or hidden on Instagram – all moves that critics interpret as aligning with the incoming Trump administration.”
That boycott came at a time when TikTok users might have migrated to Instagram’s Reels feature, though users have noted that the Meta and TikTok algorithms are different.
So, is TikTok back for good? It seems too early to tell what will happen after Trump’s 75-day pause is over, though Audacy has covered some of the potential American buyers.
“I have the unique constitutional responsibility for the national security of the United States, the conduct of foreign policy, and other vital executive functions,” said the president in his order. “To fulfill those responsibilities, I intend to consult with my advisors, including the heads of relevant departments and agencies on the national security concerns posed by TikTok, and to pursue a resolution that protects national security while saving a platform used by 170 million Americans. My Administration must also review sensitive intelligence related to those concerns and evaluate the sufficiency of mitigation measures TikTok has taken to date.”