TikTok went dark in the United States. It’s Chinese owner ByteDance had suspended service for TikTok and the editing tool CapCut.
Trump vehemently opposed TikTok but is now embracing it. And in its message to users on going dark, TikTok included a paragraph that said it was “fortunate” that Trump was looking for a way to save it. Trump said he’ll sign an executive order that will allow TikTok 90 more days to find a solution.
Voila: now reports indicate TikTok is now coming back online.
This is an incredibly sharp about-face for Trump and many Republicans who steadfastly supported the ban. Here’s the sequence of events:
1. Then President Donald Trump in 2020 considered TikTok a national security threat and requested it be banned in 2020. This received much bipartisan support.
2. According to various reports, Trump’s son Baron is the one who encouraged his dad to get on TikTok to reach young male voters. Baron also reportedly advised his dad to do podcasts and other social media. Trump got on TikTok and received an avalanche of views and followers. Trump and others have said this helped him win many votes.
3. Although TikTok did not directly contribute to Trump’s 2024 campaign some people associated with ByteDance donated big bucks. For instance, William Ford, a member of the ByteDance board, together with his wife, gave Trump $1.4 million.
4. In 2020 Trump was strongly criticizing China. Now he’s not.
5. TikTok is a major contributor to Trump’s inauguration.
6. TikTok’s CEO will have a prime seat at Trump’s swearing in.
Trump now indicates he’ll move to keep TikTok alive by executive order as soon as he’s sworn in but will require 50% U.S. ownership. The raging question is: does this mean Elon Musk? Does he mean private American ownership or American government ownership?
Salon’s Amanda Marcotte argues that Trump wants TikTok because he needs disinformation more than he hates China.
Trump, meanwhile, has changed his tune about TikTok, but not because he disbelieves the intelligence reports or because he is a free trade absolutist. (Hardly that, as his love of tariffs demonstrates.) No, it’s because he’s learned in the past four years that TikTok is a shockingly efficient disseminator of disinformation, which is Trump’s main stock-in-trade. “I’m now a big star on TikTok,” he bragged in September, vowing to protect the site from being banned. He’s also buddied up with the chief executive of the American division of TikTok, Shou Chew, inviting him to join the murder’s row of tech billionaires attending the inauguration.
“It’s been a great platform for him and his campaign to get his America first message out,” Mike Waltz, an incoming national security advisor to Trump, said Thursday. “We will put measures in place to keep TikTok from going dark.” Chew then took to TikTok to publicly credit Trump with working to save the platform.
On Sunday, Tik Tok rewarded Trump for his support with blatant propaganda. The app went dark, as expected, but when users tried to open it, they got this message: “We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office.”
So the likely outcome is this:
Trump, who started the push to have TikTok banned, used it extensively in his 2024 Presidential campaign, found it worked and got donations from people associated with ByteDance. Because TikTok helped him get re-elected and got big bucks from people associated with it, he is now doing what he can to save it. And, in the end, he’ll get credit for saving TikTok even though he started the move to ban it.
I completely understand TikTok creators being upset that they are losing income. I don’t understand being upset at Dems when Trump & Rs are the ones who started this. Now they suddenly reverse their position to enrich themselves. Wake up, open your eyes, you’re being conned.
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) January 19, 2025
TikTok will be back up tomorrow so Trump can get the credit. It’s all a pre planned stunt.
— Claude Taylor (@TrueFactsStated) January 19, 2025
HAPPENING NOW: TikTok appears to be coming back online. The website is now working and the app appears to be slowly reconnecting for users in the U.S.
— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) January 19, 2025
Trump is just pathetically weak about this already. TikTok is already dark! A 50% ownership with the People's Republic of China won't work under the law. If he doesn't like it, ask Congress to write a new law. Otherwise, it's full divestment within 90 days or a ban. https://t.co/pAlM7p4Xzu
— Aaron Astor (@AstorAaron) January 19, 2025
At first, their dear leader demanded we ban TikTok. So Republicans voted to ban TikTok. Now dear leader, realizing he’ll benefit from TikTok, wants to save TikTok. So Republicans scream “save TikTok!” Proving yet again, Republicans believe in nothing but serving dear leader.? https://t.co/oAFEsuSrMY
— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) January 19, 2025
When did conservatives become defenders of TikTok? Not even a year ago it was CCP propaganda, every influencer called for it to be banned, and Vivek got major flak for joining. Trump was the first one to call for its ban until it was an unpopular opinion, and now it's a good app?
— Kaitlin Bennett (@KaitMarieox) January 19, 2025
Within a week, I believe we will see the President Elect find a way to bring it back & for the millions of people who love the app, it will be seen as a heroic move – defeating “big govt overreach”
The bill was originally brought by house republicans – met/passed with…
— Stephanie Ruhle (@SRuhle) January 19, 2025
“Trump saved Tik Tok” gonna be the new “Trump gave us $1500”
— QUAN (@QuannyNitro) January 19, 2025
This is a deeply disappointing kowtow to China. https://t.co/3K4HtDwX9M
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) January 19, 2025
Shameless. https://t.co/0KRt7L7pfH
— Fred Wellman (@FPWellman) January 19, 2025
Trump previously tried to ban Tik Tok himself with an executive order, but it was overturned by the courts. pic.twitter.com/RXPcyB4OUi
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) January 19, 2025
It’s really been something to watch MAGA first fall in love with Putin and now the CCP. Nice work guys. Bang up job.
— Sarah Longwell (@SarahLongwell25) January 19, 2025
Fact: Trump previously signed an Executive Order banning TikTok, concerned it would ruin his reelection chances.
If he "saves" it, he will have simply undone what he originally did, keeping his pattern of creating a non-existent threat, creating an unnecessary emergency, and… pic.twitter.com/C9k2ot0hUd
— John Pavlovitz (@johnpavlovitz) January 19, 2025
And there it is. Scam and grift revealed. Watch who gets rich off this. Interested also to see how legacy media covers this, which has been putrid so far. pic.twitter.com/dVMVwcYCSk
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) January 19, 2025
The US Intel assessment that TikTok is a national security threat has not changed.
The fact that a large bipartisan majority passed the TikTok ban has not changed.
Only Trump’s view of TikTok, following an election in which he says it helped him, has changed. https://t.co/rb8De2MVJZ
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) January 19, 2025
As I’ve predicted every day for the last two weeks. A prearranged scam between Trump and the CCP to deceive the American people, enrich himself, and fool users. And it will work because there are plenty of rubes & suckers in this country and Trump has had their number for years. pic.twitter.com/VUyC9ew16e
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) January 19, 2025
TikTok tucking itself in with Trump. Twitter under control of the White House. Facebook making major changes to placate MAGA, doing PR campaign to align w Trump.
Does everyone not see what’s happening here and how terrifying this is. pic.twitter.com/PpnfqfI6Ij
— Chris Murphy ? (@ChrisMurphyCT) January 19, 2025
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.