Trump says he will revive TikTok, but wants 50% U.S. ownership

United States President-elect Donald Trump delivers a speech at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, United States, January 7, 2025.

Carlos Barría | Reuters

President-elect Donald Trump said he would restore access to TikTok in the United States by executive order after he is sworn in on Monday, but said he wants the popular social media app to be at least half owned by American investors.

TikTok stopped working for its 170 million U.S. users on Saturday evening before a law shutting it down on national security grounds took effect on Sunday. U.S. officials had warned that under Chinese parent company ByteDance, there was a risk of misuse of Americans' data.

Trump said he would “extend the deadline before the law's prohibitions take effect, so we can reach a deal to protect our national security.”

“I would like the United States to have a 50% stake in a joint venture. By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands, and allow it to express itself,” he wrote on Truth Social.

Trump said the executive order would make clear that there would be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from falling into obscurity before his order.

Trump had earlier said he would most likely give TikTok a 90-day reprieve after taking office, a promise TikTok cited in a notice posted to the app's users.

“A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the United States. Unfortunately, this means you cannot use TikTok at this time. We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to restore TikTok a once he takes office “stay tuned,” informed users of TikTok, which disappeared from the Apple and Google app stores on Saturday evening.

Even if temporary, TikTok's unprecedented shutdown is expected to have a significant impact on U.S.-China relations, U.S. politics, the social media marketplace, and the millions of Americans who rely on it. application economically and culturally.

The United States has never banned a major social media platform. The law overwhelmingly passed by Congress gives the new Trump administration the power to ban or seek the sale of other Chinese-owned apps.

Other ByteDance-owned apps, including video editing app CapCut and social lifestyle app Lemon8, were also offline and unavailable in US app stores on Saturday evening.

It was unclear whether U.S. users could still access the app, but it no longer worked for many users, and people seeking to access it through a web app received the same message that TikTok was no longer working.

Switch to alternatives

Under the law passed last year and upheld unanimously by the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday, the platform had until Sunday to sever ties with its China-based parent company or shut down its U.S. operations to to address concerns that it poses a threat to national security.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington on Friday accused the United States of using unfair state power to take down TikTok. “China will take all necessary measures to resolutely safeguard its legitimate rights and interests,” a spokesperson said.

Uncertainty about the app's future has pushed users – mostly young people – to turn to alternatives, including China-based RedNote. Rivals Meta and Snap saw their stock prices rise this month ahead of the ban, as investors bet on an influx of users and advertising dollars.

“This is my new home now,” one user wrote in a RedNote post, tagged with the words “tiktokrefugee” and “sad.”

Minutes after TikTok shut down in the United States, other users took to X, formerly called Twitter.

“I didn't really think they would stop TikTok. Now I'm sad and I miss the friends I made there. I hope it all comes back in a few days,” @RavenclawJedi wrote.

“Hair on fire” moment

NordVPN, a popular virtual private network, or VPN, allowing users to access the Internet from servers around the world, said it was “experiencing temporary technical difficulties.”

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

Instagram users wondered if they would still receive the products they purchased on TikTok Shop, the video platform's e-commerce arm.

Marketing companies that rely on TikTok rushed to prepare contingency plans in what one executive described as a “fire” moment after months of conventional wisdom claiming a solution would materialize to keep the application running.

There have been signs that TikTok could make a comeback under Trump, who has said he wants to seek a “political resolution” to the problem and last month urged the Supreme Court to halt implementation of the ban.

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew plans to attend the US presidential inauguration and attend a rally with Trump on Sunday, a source told Reuters.

Suitors, including former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, have expressed interest in the fast-growing company, which analysts say could be worth as much as $50 billion. Media reports say Beijing has also held discussions about selling TikTok's US operations to billionaire and Trump ally Elon Musk, although the company has denied this.

American search engine startup Perplexity AI submitted an offer to ByteDance on Saturday for Perplexity to merge with TikTok US. Perplexity would merge with TikTok US and create a new entity by combining the merged company with other partners, the person added.

Privately held ByteDance is about 60% owned by institutional investors such as BlackRock and General Atlantic, while its founders and employees each own 20%. It has more than 7,000 employees in the United States

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