The video app TikTok has come back online just hours after President-elect Donald Trump promised on Sunday (19) that he would sign an executive order on Monday (20) to restore the banned app.
The move comes about 12 hours after the first shutdown. Users reported that they began to access TikTok in a web browser and in the app, although the page still showed a notice about the shutdown.
The drastic action to bring the app back comes after TikTok went offline for Americans on Saturday night (18). Users who tried to open the app from that point on received a message that it was offline and a request for users to “stay tuned.”
“A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the US. Unfortunately, this means that you cannot use TikTok for the time being,” TikTok’s message read in part. The app was also unavailable on the Apple and Google Play stores – as were the Lemon8 and CapCut apps, which are also owned by TikTok’s China-based parent company, ByteDance.
Given TikTok’s massive popularity – it has 170 million users in the US alone – restoring the app could be Trump’s first major political victory, as he takes it upon himself to “rescue” the much-used platform.
However, while TikTok’s shutdown lasted only a few hours, the app’s long-term future in the US is likely to be more complicated.
