A dramatic weekend for TikTok in the US began with a Supreme Court decision upholding a Congressional ban on the app, citing concerns over ByteDance’s potential access to American user data. The ban briefly took effect Sunday, causing the app to go dark with users seeing a message about the enacted law.
However, the situation quickly shifted when President-elect Trump intervened, promising an executive order to delay the ban’s implementation. TikTok subsequently returned to service for existing users, though it remains unavailable for new downloads on US app stores. The app displayed a message thanking Trump for his efforts in restoring service.
Trump announced plans to issue an executive order Monday to facilitate a deal requiring 50% US ownership of TikTok. While the Biden administration had chosen not to enforce the law, Trump’s approach seeks a more definitive solution through partial acquisition.
Several potential buyers have emerged. Reports of Elon Musk’s interest were dismissed by TikTok as “pure fiction,” while former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and businessman Frank McCourt have expressed interest. McCourt claims to have secured $20 billion in verbal commitments from investors.
The ban’s effects extended beyond TikTok to other ByteDance apps. Lemon8, CapCut, and Marvel Snap remained unavailable as of Monday morning. The gaming community was particularly surprised by Marvel Snap’s outage, with its US-based developer Second Dinner expressing hope for restoration within 24 hours.
With TikTok’s 170 million US users spending an average of 51 minutes daily on the platform in 2024, competitors like Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts stand to benefit if uncertainty persists. Marketing analyst Kelsey Chickering notes that advertisers are prepared to shift spending to Meta and Google platforms if TikTok becomes unavailable.
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