TikTok has been restored to Google Play and Apple’s App Store after President Donald Trump pledged to save it.
The app, used by 170 million Americans, briefly went dark across the U.S. before the president’s inauguration as a nationwide ban came into effect.
But the day before he was sworn into office, Trump intervened in a bid to get TikTok back online.
The tech giants behind the online stores were unwilling to restore the app for fear of breaking the law. However, recently both companies received letters from the Justice Department assuring them that there would be no recourse for restoring TikTok, reports The New York Times.
The Chinese-owned app was banned in the U.S. in January due to fears that it could be used to collect private data of citizens or spread propaganda through its algorithm, which TikTok denies.
On 20 January, Trump signed an executive order delaying the ban. TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, has until April 5 to find a U.S.-based buyer to avoid a total ban, Trump’s order stated.
Trump’s order also declared that Google and Apple, and other companies would not be penalized for keeping the TikTok app up and running in the meantime.
TikTok thanked the president in a statement.
“It’s a strong stand for the First Amendment and against arbitrary censorship. We will work with President Trump on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States,” the social media company said at the time.
Last month skeptics highlighted how Trump was the one who initially called for the controversial Chinese-owned social media app to be banned in 2020. But since Trump’s following on TikTok grew — he has now amassed 14.8 million followers — and he hinted it helped to clinch the election, the president has changed his tune.
“I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok because I won youth by 34 points,” Trump said in December. “And there are those that say TikTok had something to do with that.”
In fact, young voters favored Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate, over Trump by 52 percent to 48 percent. While that was bigger support for Trump than in his previous elections, some of the young voters who backed him appearing to now be drifting away.
Trump previously said that he was open to Elon Musk buying the app if he wanted to do so. However, the billionaire and head of the quasi-governmental DOGE agency has said he is not planning to buy TikTok.
