TikTok restored service to US users Jan. 20, approximately 12 hours after going dark, though the app remains unavailable for new downloads on Apple and Google‘s app stores. President-elect Donald Trump promised to issue an executive order Monday extending the deadline for ByteDance to sell its US operations, after the Supreme Court upheld a 2024 law requiring the sale.
While Trump proposed a 50-50 joint venture for US ownership, experts expressed skepticism about the solution. ‘If full China control over TikTok is a security risk, co-control won’t be better,’ said Brock Silvers, managing director at private equity firm Kaiyuan Capital. Meanwhile, Perplexity AI has emerged as a potential partner, proposing a merger that would create a new entity combining TikTok US operations with new partners. The deal could potentially satisfy both US security concerns and ByteDance’s public refusal to sell TikTok US outright.
Competitors are already moving to capitalize on TikTok’s uncertainty. Meta is launching a new video editing app called Edits, while Elon Musk‘s X is adding a video tab for US users. Bluesky is also introducing custom video feeds. ByteDance’s other popular app, CapCut, remains inaccessible to US users despite TikTok’s return.
TikTok returns to US users after a brief outage, but remains unavailable for new downloads. President-elect Trump extends deadline for ByteDance to sell US operations while competitors move in. #metaedits #ussecurity #appstores… Share on X
Frank Wilson is a retired teacher with over 30 years of combined experience in the education, small business technology, and real estate business. He now blogs as a hobby and spends most days tinkering with old computers. Wilson is passionate about tech, enjoys fishing, and loves drinking beer.
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