Fri Jan 24 05:10:00 UTC 2025: **TikTok Back Online for Existing Users, but New Downloads Remain Blocked**
WASHINGTON D.C. – TikTok is back online for existing users in the United States following a weekend shutdown, but new downloads remain blocked from the Apple and Google app stores. The app’s brief disappearance stemmed from a January law requiring its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to divest its U.S. assets. Failure to meet a sale deadline would mandate removal from app stores. While ByteDance chose to temporarily shut down the app entirely for about 12 hours on Sunday, the platform’s return was attributed to a presidential executive order by then-President Donald Trump delaying enforcement of the ban.
Although existing users can access TikTok, new users cannot download the app. Apple’s app store displays a message stating the app is unavailable in the user’s region, while Google’s Play Store indicates downloads are paused due to U.S. legal requirements. Analysts suggest this is due to Google and Apple awaiting further legal assurances before risking penalties for distributing the app.
Trump’s executive order grants a 75-day extension, providing more time for ByteDance to sell its U.S. operations. Trump publicly expressed openness to Elon Musk and Larry Ellison as potential buyers, citing Oracle’s existing hosting of TikTok’s servers. The original law, passed by Congress and signed into effect by President Joe Biden, raised national security concerns about potential data collection and content manipulation by the Chinese government. The legality of Trump’s executive order remains uncertain.
First Piper 