Published: 09:34, January 20, 2025 | Updated: 16:41, January 20, 2025
TikTok resumes service in US hours after going dark
By Xinhua
A man carries a Free TikTok sign in front of the courthouse where the hush-money trial of Donald Trump was underway on April 15, 2024, in New York. (PHOTO / AP)

LOS ANGELES - TikTok resumed its service in the United States on Sunday, hours after it was suspended.

TikTok said it would work with US President-elect Donald Trump, who will assume the presidency on Monday, for a long-term solution that would keep TikTok in the United States.

The resume came just one day after US users were met with a message stating "A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can't use TikTok for now."

The app also disappeared from Apple's App Store and Google Play app store on Saturday night.

TikTok, headquartered in Los Angeles, warned Friday that it would be forced to shut down its services for the 170 million users in the United States on Sunday unless US President Joe Biden provides a "definitive" assurance.

ALSO READ: TikTok tests US earnestness for cooperation

Earlier on Friday, the US Supreme Court upheld a law forcing TikTok's Chinese owner, ByteDance, to sell the app to an American company or face a nationwide ban starting on Sunday, just one day before Trump's inauguration.

The ban could have impacted US small businesses substantially. According to TikTok, over 7 million US accounts used TikTok for business purposes as of November 2024.

The company also warned that US small businesses and content creators would lose 1.3 billion US dollars in revenue and earnings within the first month of shutdown, with nearly 2 million creators potentially losing 300 million US dollars in income.

In the aftermath of the shutdown, many TikTok users turned to other social media platforms to express their sadness, frustration, and anger toward the government.

Emily Senn, who had amassed 340,000 TikTok followers, shared a tearful farewell video discussing the platform's impact on her life and finances. "And to the US government, I'm never forgiving you for this," she said.

ALSO READ: TikTok to go dark Sunday in US without Biden's assurance

Another TikTok user, Alejandro Flores-Munoz, owns a catering business in Denver, Colorado. He told the Associated Press that TikTok helped him reach customers without spending money on marketing. "It's very disheartening, specifically because I truly did rely on the app for my business and my growth," he said.

On Sunday, Trump announced on Truth Social that he will issue an executive order on Monday that will allow TikTok to continue operating, which, according to his interview with NBC on Saturday, will "most likely" be a 90-day reprieve from a potential ban.

"The order will also confirm that there will be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before my order," he continued.

The incoming president also said that he would like the United States to have a 50-percent ownership position in a joint venture.

"My initial thought is a joint venture between the current owners and/or new owners whereby the US gets a 50 percent ownership in a joint venture set up between the US and whichever purchase we so choose," Trump said.