"TikTok Restores Service in U.S., Thanks to Donald Trump's Actions"

"TikTok Credits President-Elect Donald Trump for Service Reversal Ahead of January 20 Inauguration"

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TikTok Temporarily Removed from U.S. App Stores Ahead of Ban, President-Elect Donald Trump Considers Reprieve

On Saturday, January 18, 2025, TikTok's app was removed from major app stores just ahead of a federal law set to take effect, banning the popular social media platform in the U.S. By 10:50 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, users were unable to find TikTok on Apple or Google’s app stores. The move came after a law mandated that TikTok’s China-based parent company, ByteDance, either sell the platform or face a U.S. ban.

When users attempted to open the app that evening, they were greeted with a pop-up message preventing them from browsing videos. "A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S.," the message read. "Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now."

As the deadline approached, TikTok issued a warning to U.S. users, alerting them that the app would soon be "temporarily unavailable" due to the impending ban. "We regret that a U.S. law banning TikTok will take effect on January 19 and force us to make our services temporarily unavailable," read the notification displayed when users launched the app late Saturday night.

Despite the looming ban, President-elect Donald Trump, who was set to take office on January 20, expressed that he was considering granting a reprieve for the platform. TikTok users in the U.S. were left waiting to see how the situation would unfold as Trump prepared to retake power.

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