Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Liveupdated
1 week ago

TikTok ban latest: Chinese app back after Trump promises to restore it but US redownloads not available

During his first administration, Trump pushed for a TikTok ban over national security concerns with China in 2020

Oliver O'Connell,Rhian Lubin
Monday 20 January 2025 01:07 EST
Comments
TikTok goes dark in the U.S.

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

The Chinese-owned social media app TikTok has hailed “President Trump’s efforts” as it confirmed it is back online in the U.S. following a brief shutdown.

TikTok went offline in the U.S. at about 10.30 p.m. Eastern time on Saturday before the ban went into effect on January 19.

But on Sunday morning President-elect Donald Trump intervened and vowed to issue an executive order on Monday in a bid to get TikTok back online again.

When users logged in to the app on Sunday afternoon, they were greeted by the message: “Welcome back! Thanks for your patience and support. As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.!”

However, the app remained unavailable for redownload for many users in app stores as of Sunday late afternoon.

The company behind the app released a statement crediting the president-elect for “providing clarity” to tech companies.

“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,” TikTok said.

During his first administration, Trump pushed for a ban on the app over national security concerns.

1 week ago

Web searches for ‘VPN’ spikes after TikTok goes offline

Web searches for “VPN” spiked in the minutes after U.S. users lost access to TikTok, according to Google Trends.

VPNs allow users to spoof the location of their device in order to make it appear to websites that it is in a different country or location.

This works by re-routing the traffic through various different internet servers in order to scramble and disguise the real IP address of the smartphone, tablet or computer.

By offering a private connection, VPNs have become a popular tool for journalists, whistleblowers and any other people or organizations wishing to hide their web activity from internet companies, security agencies and hackers.

Jabed Ahmed reports.

TikTok ban: VPN interest surges as Americans look for best ways to continue using app

Web searches for “VPN” spiked in the minutes after US users lost access to TikTok

Rhian Lubin19 January 2025 17:00
1 week ago

Trump said the U.S. ‘must take aggressive action against TikTok’ in 2020

On August 6, 2020, Trump issued an executive order to impose sanctions on TikTok.

“The United States must take aggressive action against the owners of TikTok to protect our national security,” Trump said in the order.

It called for ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese parent company, to divest its U.S. interests or face sanctions.

The order warned that TikTok’s data collection “threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information — potentially allowing China to track the locations of federal employees and contractors, build dossiers of personal information for blackmail and conduct corporate espionage.”

Trump’s effort to ban the app was then blocked by a federal judge. The judge ruled he had exceeded his authority and President Biden revoked the ban in 2021, before Congress considered bringing in new legislation.

Rhian Lubin19 January 2025 16:30
1 week ago

How did we get here?

Efforts to ban TikTok resurfaced in Congress early last year, and quickly gained bipartisan support among lawmakers who voiced about the potential for the platform to surveil and manipulate Americans.

The legislation the Supreme Court upheld passed the House and the Senate in April after it was included as part of a high-priority $95 billion package that provided foreign aid to Ukraine and Israel. President Joe Biden quickly signed it, and the two companies and a group of content creators quickly sued.

A lower court upheld the statute in early December. The legislation gave ByteDance nine months from the enactment date to sell TikTok, and a possible three-month extension if a sale was in progress.

Rhian Lubin19 January 2025 16:10
1 week ago

Trump plans to give TikTok’s company more time to find buyer

Trump says he plans to issue an executive order that would give TikTok’s China-based parent company more time to find an approved buyer before the popular video-sharing platform is subject to a permanent ban in the U.S.

The law gives the sitting president authority to grant a 90-day extension if a viable sale is underway.

Although investors made a few offers, ByteDance previously said it would not sell. In his post on Sunday, Trump proposed making the U.S. a partner in a deal.

AP19 January 2025 15:42
1 week ago

BREAKING: Trump says he will issue executive order on Monday in effort to ‘keep TikTok from going dark'

President-elect Donald Trump has shared a statement on Truth Social saying he plans to issue an executive order on Monday in an effort to “keep TikTok from going dark.”

Here’s the full statement:

I’m asking companies not to let TikTok stay dark! I will issue an executive order on Monday to extend the period of time before the law’s prohibitions take effect, so that we can make a deal to protect our national security.

The order will also confirm that there will be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before my order. Americans deserve to see our exciting Inauguration on Monday, as well as other events and conversations.

I would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture. By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands and allow it to say up. Without U.S. approval, there is no Tik Tok.

With our approval, it is worth hundreds of billions of dollars - maybe trillions.

Therefore, my initial thought is a joint venture between the current owners and/or new owners whereby the U.S. gets a 50% ownership in a joint venture set up between the U.S. and whichever purchase we so choose.

Rhian Lubin19 January 2025 15:34
1 week ago

TikTok sister app Lemon8 also goes dark

TikTok’s sister app Lemon8, owned by ByteDance, has also gone dark.

TikTok and Lemon8 have been removed from Apple’s App Store and Google Play store.

When users go to download the apps, a message now says “App Not Available.”

Lemon8 is a lifestyle app, with content including, “How to become a 5 am girly” and “How to save $500 in a month.”

At the start of this year, it was ranked the number one free app on Apple’s app store.

Lemon8 is also unavailable in the U.S. at the moment
Lemon8 is also unavailable in the U.S. at the moment (REUTERS)

Rhian Lubin19 January 2025 15:30
1 week ago

Trump reacts to TikTok going dark

President-elect Donald Trump has reacted to TikTok going offline.

He shared a simple message on Truth Social on Sunday morning.

Trump shared the message on Truth Social on Sunday morning
Trump shared the message on Truth Social on Sunday morning (@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social)
Rhian Lubin19 January 2025 15:00
1 week ago

Watch: SNL ‘mourns the loss’ of TikTok by mocking users’ reaction to US ban

Michael Longfellow mourns the loss of TikTok on SNL
Rhian Lubin19 January 2025 14:30
1 week ago

In numbers: How TikTok became the world’s most controversial app

After amassing more than 170 million users in the country in less than seven years, TikTok is now facing an outright ban in the US.

Anthony Cuthbertson reports on how it became the most controversial app in the world.

How TikTok became the world’s most controversial app

More than 3 billion people are already blocked from using the app, writes Anthony Cuthbertson

Oliver O'Connell19 January 2025 14:00
1 week ago

What happened when TikTok entered negotiations with the Biden administration?

Between January 2021 and August 2022, representatives for TikTok engaged in serious negotiations with the Biden administration about the app’s future in the U.S. The talks resulted in a 90-page draft security agreement that the company presented to CFIUS in August 2022. The two sides then ceased substantive negotiations, according to TikTok’s attorneys, though some meetings also took place in following months.

A copy of the draft agreement submitted in court showed that it would have opened up TikTok’s U.S. platform for security inspections and blocked access of U.S. user data from China. The company says it has already implemented some provisions of the agreement, including routing U.S. user data to servers operated by software giant Oracle.

In its lawsuit to overturn the sell-or-ban law, the company said it spent more than $2 billion to implement aspects of its appeasement plan, which it calls Project Texas.

But the Department of Justice and administration officials argued in court documents that the proposal failed to create sufficient separation between TikTok’s U.S. operations and China. They also said the opacity of TikTok’s algorithm, coupled with the size and technical complexity of the platform, made it impossible for the U.S. government – or its technology provider, Oracle – to effectively guarantee compliance with the proposal.

In February 2023, the White House directed federal agencies to remove TikTok from government-issued devices, mirroring some other countries that also prohibited the use of the app on official devices.

The following month, lawmakers grilled TikTok CEO Shou Chew during an hours-long hearing in which he sought to reassure a tense House committee that the platform prioritized user safety and should not be banned due to its Chinese connections.

According to court documents, TikTok’s representatives had their last meeting with CFIUS in September 2023. Later that year, criticism against the platform increased in volume among Republicans in Washington who claimed the platform amplified pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel content, an accusation the company vigorously denied.

AP19 January 2025 13:00

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in