Following President-elect Donald Trump’s announcement that he will issue an executive order to provide the app a reprieve when he takes office on Monday, TikTok is restarting services to its 170 million users in the US.
After a law prohibiting the Chinese-owned app on national security grounds went into force, it stopped functioning for American users on Saturday night.
Trump, who had previously supported banning the platform, pledged on Sunday to postpone the law’s execution in order to give more time for an agreement to be reached. TikTok later stated that it was “restoring service” at the time.
The app soon resumed functioning, and its millions of users received a popup message thanking Trump by name. The business said in a statement that it will collaborate with Trump “on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States” and thanked the new president for “providing the necessary clarity and assurance”.
Shou Chew, the CEO of TikTok, is anticipated to be present at Trump’s inauguration on Monday.
Trump posted on his own social media network, Truth Social, on Sunday: “I’m requesting that businesses stop allowing TikTok to remain dark! In order to reach an agreement to safeguard our national security, I will issue an executive order on Monday to prolong the time before the law’s prohibitions go into effect.
In the past, Bytedance, the parent company of TikTok, disregarded a regulation that required it to sell its US business in order to avoid being banned. The Supreme Court affirmed the statute on Friday, and it became operative on Sunday.
What legal authority Trump will have to postpone the implementation of an existing statute is unknown. However, it was anticipated that if he issued an executive order, his government would not execute the restriction.
It’s a complete reversal of his prior role. Trump originally supported a ban on TikTok, but he has since claimed to have a “warm spot” for the app, citing the billions of views his videos received during the previous presidential campaign.
The government of President Joe Biden had previously stated that it would let the process unfold under the incoming Trump administration rather than enforcing the law during its final hours in office.
However, prior to the prompt restoration of access on Sunday, TikTok had already suspended its services on Saturday night.
With millions of US users, the short-form video platform is extremely popular. Additionally, it has shown to be a useful tool for American political campaigns looking to connect with younger people.
If the app’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, did not sell its US business, the law that was approved in April of last year required that the US version of the app be taken down from app stores and web hosting services.
Before the Supreme Court, TikTok contended that the statute infringed upon the nation’s users’ right to free speech.
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court justices unanimously upheld the law, which was approved with the backing of both Democrats and Republicans in Congress.
The problem reveals a divide between the president-elect and his own party members on a crucial national security matter. Marco Rubio, his choice for Secretary of State, had been an outspoken advocate of the ban.
“TikTok extended the Chinese Communist Party’s power and influence into our own nation, right under our noses,” he stated in April of 2013. However, when a reporter asked him if he backed Trump’s efforts to reinstate the ban, he appeared to yield to the president-elect.
“If I’m confirmed as secretary of state, I’ll work for the president,” he said last week to Punchbowl reporters.
Following Trump’s intervention on Sunday morning, Republican senator from Arkansas and chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee Tom Cotton disagreed with Trump, stating that any business that assists TikTok in remaining online would be in violation of the law.
“Any company that hosts, distributes, services, or otherwise facilitates communist-controlled TikTok could face hundreds of billions of dollars of ruinous liability under the law, not just from DOJ, but also under securities law, shareholder lawsuits, and state AGs,” he said to social media.
If an executive order violates the law, it may be challenged in court.
Even though TikTok is accessible nationwide, local jurisdictions may decide to restrict it due to lawsuits filed against the network by a number of states.
Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, argues that even if the platform went up again for current users on Sunday, it is still unclear if third parties, such as hosting companies or app stores like Google or Apple, could support TikTok in the US. Ahead of the restriction, the app had been taken out of those stores.
He said, “It is murky,”
Trump pledged to protect businesses from responsibility in a post on Truth Media, which would allow TikTok to reappear on Apple and Google.
“The order will also confirm that there will be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before my order,” the president-elect stated during Truth Social Sunday.
However, Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar was certain that an executive order could not amend the law retroactively during the Supreme Court hearings.
“Whatever the new president does, doesn’t change that reality for these companies,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor stated during the hearings.
“That’s right,” concluded Prelogar.
According to Professor Tobias, the statute does have a clause that would enable the president to delay the ban for a maximum of ninety days, provided he can demonstrate that the business is significantly resolving national security concerns. However, it’s unclear if those requirements have been fulfilled, he said.
“The best thing Trump could do is work with Congress, and not potentially be in violation of the law or have any questions left hanging,” he stated.
“I don’t know that we’re going to know a whole lot more until we see that executive order.”
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