- President Trump shared a post that extended the deadline for ByteDance to find a new buyer, saving TikTok.
- TikTok has resumed operations in the US, with a message thanking Trump for his efforts.
- Other ByteDance apps, like CapCut and Lemon 8, remain unavailable from app stores.
The impending doom of the TikTok ban finally became a reality on Saturday as the platform went down in the US. But the service surprisingly came back up mere hours after the ban on Sunday. This came as President-Elect Donald Trump pulled an ex-machina and saved TikTok from going down.
In a post (shared on TruthSocial), Trump announced that he will sign an executive order to extend the deadline for TikTok’s parent company ByteDance to find a new buyer in the U.S. He added, that any buyer that helps the service from going dark will have no liabilities. Essentially, removing any risks that potential buyers may worry about regarding the platform.
Since this statement, TikTok has come back online again. But they didn’t forget to thank their savior, as the app now shows this message, “Thanks to President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the US!“. That said, other apps from ByteDance like CapCut and Lemon 8 remain missing from the Google and Apple app stores.
The app was ruled to be banned by the Supreme Court due to concerns over national security given the Chinese origin of the parent company ByteDance. But seems like TikTok is in the clear now. In light of the US ban of TikTok, popular celebrities like famous YouTuber Mr. Beast and the streaming platform Kick showed interest in buying out ByteDance. But that didn’t come to fruition. So it will be interesting to see where TikTok goes from here in the future.
It remains to be seen how the platform’s competitors react to this move. Following the US ban, Elon Musk’s X came up with a dedicated scrolling video section of their own. Meanwhile, Bluesky welcomed a custom videos feed for the TikTok refugees. Meta, on the other hand, took this moment to release their Edits video editing app, as a direct alternative to ByteDance’s CapCut.
However, we can’t ignore the elephant in the room, which is Trump’s sudden intervention. It looks like a calculated strategy by many. Whatever the case may be, it has earned a lot of praise for the new President from the younger demographic. Especially creators and people who actively used the app. But what do you think about this? Let us know in the comments below.
