TikTok Begins Restoring Service After Trump Pledge

Next national security adviser says president-elect and China's president agreed to work together on issue
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 19, 2025 12:14 PM CST
TikTok Begins Restoring Service After Trump Pledge
A message reading "Sorry, TikTok isn't available right now" is displayed from the TikTok app on a cellphone screen Saturday in Nashville.   (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

TikTok announced Sunday that it's begun the process of restoring service to users in the US, after a shutdown began the night before. A statement said the change was in response to President-elect Trump's post promising to postpone enforcement of the US ban on the platform to give its parent company time to work out a deal with his administration, NBC News reports. Other tech companies that faced fines if they didn't remove the app from digital stores and other service providers are helping with the restoration, per the AP.

TikTok's post on X thanked Trump "for providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties." The statement called Trump's decision "a strong stand for the First Amendment and against arbitrary censorship" and said TikTok will work with the administration "on a long-term solution." Mike Waltz, the incoming national security adviser, said Sunday on CBS' Face the Nation that Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping had spoken and "agreed to work together on this." He pointed out that the app benefited Trump's campaign, per CBS News.

"We can have an app that protects Americans," Waltz said. "And I could tell you, I wouldn't want the FBI or the US government monitoring every keystroke or seeing every password, nor would we want the Chinese Communist Party. But we also want an app that 170 million Americans clearly really enjoy and that we were able to get our message out during the Trump campaign in a very powerful way." (More TikTok stories.)

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