By Kenneth Li and Katie Paul
(Reuters) -TikTok awaited an executive order granting it more time to strike a deal after President Donald Trump returned to power on Monday, as China signaled it would be open to a transaction to keep the app in the U.S. market.
The short video service used by 170 million Americans was briefly taken offline for U.S. users on Saturday, hours before a law that said it must be sold by its Chinese owner ByteDance on national security grounds took effect on Sunday. U.S. officials had said that under ByteDance, there was a risk of Americans’ data being misused.
TikTok restored access on Sunday and thanked Trump for providing assurances to TikTok and its business partners that they would not face hefty fines to keep the app running. The app and website were operational on Monday, but TikTok was still not available for download in the Apple (NASDAQ:) and Google (NASDAQ:) app stores, suggesting the two companies were waiting for clearer legal assurances.
“Frankly, we have no choice. We have to save it,” Trump said at a rally on Sunday ahead of his inauguration, adding that the U.S. will seek a joint venture to restore the app used by half of Americans.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew attended the inauguration, as well as a service at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Washington with Trump on Monday. Chew was joined by several Big Tech chief executives including Amazon.com (NASDAQ:) founder Jeff Bezos, Meta (NASDAQ:) CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.
The company also sponsored an inauguration party Sunday, hosted by the organizers of conservative youth and dating groups.
Trump earlier said he will issue an executive order to give TikTok a reprieve from the ban after he takes office, a promise TikTok cited in a notice posted to users on the app.
That announcement came as China indicated for the first time it would be open to a transaction keeping TikTok operating in the U.S.
When asked about the app’s restoration and Trump’s desire for a deal, China’s foreign ministry told a regular news briefing on Monday that it believed companies should “decide independently” about their operations and deals.
“TikTok has operated in the U.S. for many years and is deeply loved by American users,” ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said. “We hope that the U.S. can earnestly listen to the voice of reason and provide an open, fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment for firms operating there.”
‘SAVING TIKTOK’
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