TikTok said it's in the "process of restoring service" in the U.S. after President-elect Donald Trump said he will issue an executive order letting the Chinese-owned short video app operate for some time.
The back-and-forth has potential implications for TikTok rivals Meta Platforms and Snapchat parent Snap, as well as several other tech giants.
TikTok had shut down U.S. operations as of the start of Sunday, complying with a U.S. law that banned the short video app if its Chinese parent Bytedance didn't divest the business by Sunday.
However, Trump on Sunday posted on social media that he will issue an executive order on Monday after he takes office "to extend the period of time before the law's prohibitions take effect, so that we can make a deal to protect our national security."
TikTok, in its statement, said "We thank President Trump for providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties."
That alludes to a key factor of the law, which doesn't just apply to the Chinese-owned video site, but several U.S. tech giants.
Oracle is one of TikTok's main server providers storing the service's videos. Amazon.com also serves TikTok via Amazon Web Services. Apple and Google parent Alphabet provide access to the TikTok app via the App Store and Google Play, respectively.
Those companies face $5,000 fines for every user they help access TikTok, via their app stores or servers.
With some 170 million U.S. TikTok users, the potential fines for noncompliance would be very high for the tech giants.
Trump posted that Monday's executive order will "confirm that there will be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before my order."
Tech companies may be wary of helping TikTok with the law on the books, even if Trump chooses not to enforce it. The Supreme Court upheld the TikTok ban 9-0 on Friday.
Trump Wants U.S. To Own Half Of TikTok
The incoming president also said, "I would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture."
It's unclear if Bytedance — or Beijing — would accept a JV with the U.S. government. Congress would likely still need to repeal the TikTok ban as well.
Meanwhile, Google rival Perplexity submitted a bid on Saturday for TikTok's U.S. business.
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