For the more than 170 million monthly American TikTok users, on the evening of Saturday, Jan. 17, Titkok was unavailable in the United States (U.S.) for 14 hours. This ban comes after the Supreme Court decision on Jan. 17, 2025 in Tiktok v. Garland, citing national security concerns as motivations for banning Tiktok’s operations in the U.S.

Complying with the Supreme Court decision, American users of the ByteDance owned platform opening the app during the ban were met with a message stating, “Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now. A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now. We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned.”
This ban was initiated by President Donald J. Trump during his first term in 2020, where he cited, “The spread in the United States of mobile applications developed and owned by companies in [China] continues to threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.”
Responding to these concerns, Congress adopted the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act in April of 2024. With strong bipartisan support, this law made it unlawful for companies to provide services enabling TikTok to operate in the U.S. by Jan. 19, 2025 — this ban would be lifted if the company was sold to non-Chinese owners.
In a switch from previous policy, President Trump implemented an executive order titled, “Application of Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act to Tiktok.” With this order, Trump demanded the attorney general not to enforce the law, banning the site for 75 days to give the Trump administration “an opportunity to determine the appropriate course forward.”
Users were welcomed back to the platform with a message stating, “Welcome back! Thanks for your patience and support. As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.!

You can continue to create, share, and discover all the things you love on TikTok.”
TikTok is still technically banned in the U.S., and is currently not available for download on Android or iPhone. However, users who had previously downloaded the app can now access the social media platform.
In a video message posted on the platform after the ruling, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew stated, “On behalf of everyone at TikTok and all our users across the country, I want to thank President Trump for his commitment to work with us to find a solution that keeps TikTok available in the United States … This is a strong stand for the First Amendment and against arbitrary censorship.”
Before this Jan. 19 deadline, Chew had remained staunch in his commitment to fight the Supreme Court’s decision to ban TikTok, claiming that this ban is a violation of the U.S. constitutional right to free speech.
Currently, TikTok is safe, however the future of Tiktok’s ownership is currently unknown. President Trump stated in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, “I would like the United States to have a 50 percent ownership position in a joint venture. By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands and allow it to say up … Therefore, my initial thought is a joint venture between the current owners and/or new owners whereby the U.S. gets a 50 percent ownership in a joint venture set up between the U.S. and whichever purchase we so choose.”
The Trump administration is currently working with software company Oracle and a group of outside investors to, according to NPR, take control of the app’s global operations. Under this deal, ByteDance — the China-based TikTok owner — would retain a minority stake in the company, and all of the app’s algorithm, data collection and software updates will be overseen by Oracle.
NPR’s anonymous source directly involved with the negotiations says that “the goal is for Oracle to effectively monitor and provide oversight with what is going on with TikTok … ByteDance wouldn’t completely go away, but it would minimize Chinese ownership.”