Was the TikTok ban lifted? Who signed the bill to ban the platform in US, was it Donald Trump - as President delays ban for 75 days

TikTok’s China-based parent ByteDance was supposed to find a US buyer or be banned on January 19. Mr Trump’s order could give ByteDance more time to find a buyer.

“I guess I have a warm spot for TikTok,” Mr Trump said. Mr Trump has amassed nearly 15 million followers on TikTok since he joined last year, and he has credited the trendsetting platform with helping him gain traction among young voters.

Yet its 170 million US users could not access TikTok for more than 12 hours between Saturday night and Sunday morning. The platform went offline before the ban approved by Congress and upheld by the US Supreme Court took effect on Sunday.

After Trump promised to pause the ban on Monday (20 January), TikTok restored access for existing users. Google and Apple, however, still have not reinstated TikTok to their app stores. Business leaders, lawmakers, legal scholars, and influencers who make money on TikTok are watching to see how Trump tries to resolve a thicket of regulatory, legal, financial and geopolitical issues with his signature.

Trump had initially called for a ban on TikTok in 2020. However, he told reporters on Monday that he changed his mind as he “got to use” the platform, adding that he aimed to give its parent company ByteDance more time to find a suitable buyer.

Dismissing initial privacy concerns, he said “TikTok is largely about kids, young kids. If China is going to get information about young kids out of it, to be honest, I think we have bigger problems than that”.

It was Biden himself who signed the ban-or-sale bill into law. The text of the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, passed in April last year and signed by Joe Biden, read: “This bill prohibits distributing, maintaining, or providing internet hosting services for a foreign adversary controlled application (eg, TikTok).” Both a federal appeals court and the US supreme court affirmed that rationale as sufficient.

A deadline was put on TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to announce a sale to a non-Chinese owner. From the start, ByteDance adopted an all-or-nothing approach, refusing to entertain the possibility of selling the app. Two years ago, Beijing indicated it would likewise oppose a sale, and the Chinese government has offered few comments since.