Tiktok is again available for downloading in the US, after former President Donald Trump has granted an extension of 75 days about maintaining a law that would prohibit the app, unless the Chinese owner, Bytedance, sells his American activities.
The popular platform for sharing videos, which has more than 170 million American users, briefly disappeared from Apple and Google’s American app stores last month when the original deadline of the ban appeared. After performing Trump’s enforcement until 5 April, however, the app was restored after the guarantees were given that Apple and Google would not receive any liability for allowing downloads.
The legislation that Tiktok prohibits was originally signed by former President Joe Biden, with two -part support in the congress. The US government had argued that the platform could be used by Beijing for espionage and political manipulation – claims that both Tiktok and the Chinese government have repeatedly denied.
Despite his earlier attitude in favor of forbidding ticktok, Trump seemed to shift his position during the presidential race last year. He expressed a “warm place” for the app and emphasized the billions of views that had attracted his campaign videos on the platform. When Tiktok was resumed in the US, users received a pop-up message that thanked Trump by name.
The Chief Executive of Tiktok, Shou Chew, reportedly met Trump in Mar-A-Lago after his election victory in November and later attended his inauguration.
Trump has driven the idea of a joint ownership model, which suggests that a buyer could take over Tiktok and “give half to the US” in exchange for a permit to work.
One of the potential buyers who are related to a takeover are co-founder of Oracle Larry Ellison and billionaire Elon Musk, who also leads Trump’s Department of Government efficiency. Other names in the mix are billionaire Frank McCourt, Canadian investor and shark tanker Kevin O’Leary and the greatest maker of YouTube, Jimmy Donaldson – better known as MRBeast – who claimed that investors approached him after he had shown interest in acquiring The app.
With the deadline of the ban now until the beginning of April, the future of Tiktok in the US could determine in the coming weeks. Whether a sale occurs or a compromise is reached remains uncertain, but for now American users can continue scrolling, creating and involving it on the platform.