TikTok experienced a turbulent day on Sunday, January 19, during which its existence on American soil floated between two waters. ByteDance, the parent company, took the decision to deactivate the platform on Saturday night in order to comply with a law, signed in April 2024 by President Joe Biden, which requires it to sell TikTok to an American buyer, under penalty of banishment. Fourteen hours later, the company reversed course, reassured by statements from his successor, Donald Trump.

Like the umpteenth cliffhanger in this never-ending soap opera, the future president affirmed, in a message posted on his Truth Social platform on Sunday, his intention to sign an executive order offering the social media platform a reprieve. He also hopes that the platform will eventually be 50% controlled by American shareholders, and encourages companies – such as data hosts and app stores – to continue collaborating with TikTok, assuring them that they will not be subject to prosecution.

Shortly after TikTok announced that the service was reinstated, the application no longer displayed the message announcing the suspension of the service but a more conventional error message, Le Monde noted, a sign of an operation in progress.

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