TikTok Returning to Service After Going Offline on Saturday

Small Business | January 18, 2025

TikTok Returning to Service After Going Offline on Saturday

Users in the U.S. have reported that the popular social media site TikTok has gone offline as of Saturday evening (Jan. 18, 2025). The app was at the center of a recent U.S. Supreme Court case that involved a law passed by Congress last year.

Isaac M. O'Bannon

UPDATED: Sun. Jan. 19, 2025.

The popular social media site TikTok went offline for a day on Saturday evening (Jan. 18, 2025). On Sunday, the company said they are in the process of bringing the servers back online for U.S. users. The app was at the center of a recent U.S. Supreme Court case that involved a law passed by Congress last year.

When it was offline, users attempting to open the app were provided a statement noting:

“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. We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once takes office. Please stay tuned!”

In a post on social media site X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday afternoon, the company stated:

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

The law that made its way to a Supreme Court case requires apps made available via app distributors like the Apple and Android app stores be not controlled or have stakeholding interest by countries deemed to be adversarial. The parent company of TikTok, ByteDance, is owned by a Chinese parent company with questionable controlling aspects by the Chinese government.

U.S. legislators passed the law over concern that the data of millions of Americans could be shared with the Chinese government. The “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act,” set a Jan. 19, 2025, deadline for TikTok to be sold to non-Chinese interests, or cease to be available to U.S. consumers.

President Joe Biden signed the law last year. President-elect Donald Trump, originally in favor of the ban on TikTok, has moved toward allowing some form of continuance, under some conditions. He has suggested in recent days that he is in favor of a temporary hold on the law, which has can enact for up to 90 days.

“I think that would be, certainly, an option that we look at. The 90-day extension is something that will be most likely done, because it’s appropriate,” Trump told NBC. “We have to look at it carefully. It’s a very big situation.” Trump is scheduled to be inaugurated on Monday, and could make such an action shortly thereafter.

Speculation about potential buyers of the social sharing platform have included billionaires such as Elon Musk, Frank McCourt, and Kevin O’Leary, as well as corporate bids by firms such as Oracle, Amazon, Meta, or Google. However, TikTok and its parent company have, thus far, maintained that they will not change their ownership structure or divest Chinese control.

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