19 January was the deadline for ByteDance to either sell TikTok or face a US ban on the popular short-form video platform. Despite the then-President Biden’s pledge not to enforce the ban and leave the decision to his successor Donald Trump, TikTok shut down all services in the country, for roughly 14 hours.
On the same day, the then-president-elect Trump posted on Truth Social, a platform that he owns, that he would sign an executive order on Monday 20 January, after he had been sworn into office “to extend the period of time before the law’s prohibitions take effect” for 90 days and that he would want the United States to own 50% of the share of a joint venture set up in the US for TikTok, instead of selling it entirely to an American owner.
On 20 January, Mao Ning, the spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who was asked about Trump’s suggestion, answered that China’s position on any acquisition and merger is that it should follow market principles and rules but be in compliance with Chinese laws when concerning a Chinese company.
The TikTok blackout lasted roughly 14 hours before going back online after Trump’s pledges. Biden criticised the shutdown as a “stunt” before TikTok gradually restored its services. However, as the deadline had passed for TikTok, the app can no longer be downloaded from places such as Apple’s App Store.
However, it seemed the shutdown and resuming of services were not as much of a surprise for some. It was reported that one TikTok Shop merchant in China visited the senior management of TikTok Shop in Shanghai and was reassured that the blackout would be temporary and TikTok would restart its US service at “a suitable time”. Indeed, it was reported that TikTok had given an internal notice regarding the timeframe of the platform coming back online in America, 20 January (which was the actual date when TikTok came back after 14 hours) but also further dates at the end of January and end of February.
It would seem the pre-emptive shutdown on 19 January was part of TikTok’s leverage in its continued struggle in the US. With other ByteDance apps such as CapCut, Lemon8 and Lark also shutting down on 19 January, it was clear that ByteDance’s platforms and software are an integral part of online life for many. The latest report says TikTok, including ByteDance, is ready to forgo some data-collection capabilities, as its largest shareholder continues operating in the US.
