A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
TikTok is back online in the U.S. after going dark for about 14 hours starting Saturday night.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Yeah. The blackout affected 170 million American users and then it was lifted after President-elect Donald Trump vowed to pause the federal ban. But the app isn't fully back to normal.
MARTÍNEZ: Here to talk about this moment in TikTok limbo, we're joined by NPR's Juliana Kim. So, Juliana, TikTok is up and running again. I imagine users are at least happy about that.
JULIANA KIM, BYLINE: Yeah. You know, a lot of users are relieved that it's back but also feeling some kind of whiplash. I mean, leading up to the ban, I'd see videos on TikTok of people saying goodbye to the app with tears in their eyes. Then on Saturday night, the app just stopped working earlier than expected. It left TikTok users feeling shocked, grief, confusion, but yesterday, surprise again, it was back.
MARTÍNEZ: Yes. Yes, it was back. So remind us again why the ban was triggered in the first place.
KIM: Congress passed a law last year basically requiring TikTok to shut down in the U.S. unless it cut ties from its China-based owner, ByteDance. The concern being that China could manipulate TikTok in ways that would pose a risk to American security.
MARTÍNEZ: OK, President Biden signed the ban. Incoming President Trump sought the ban in his first term, and then he made that about-face and said he wanted to save the app. And he addressed that, right? I mean, what else did he say about this?
KIM: Trump said he's going to issue an executive order to pause the ban once he's sworn in, so sometime today. Though it's worth noting that legal experts have questioned whether Trump can even use an executive order as an end run around a law Congress has already passed. Trump says he wants to give his administration more time to work out a deal. And he didn't mention a timeline, but he did tell NBC News that he was considering around 90 days.
MARTÍNEZ: OK, 90 days. So during those 90 days, what does that mean for TikTok and the companies that are involved with the app, like maybe Apple and Google?
KIM: Yeah, I mean, it's unclear, which is why Apple and Google haven't allowed TikTok back on their app stores after removing it. It's left new users unable to download TikTok. It also means the app can't receive important software updates, you know, to fix bugs and other glitches. The law says the White House has to certify to Congress that a TikTok sale is in progress before it can pause the ban; otherwise, Apple, Google and other companies could potentially face hefty financial penalties. And it's why, for now, legal experts told my colleague, Bobby Allyn, that Apple and Google are waiting to see Trump's next steps.
MARTÍNEZ: So on those penalties. Has Trump spoken on those penalties at all?
KIM: Yeah. I mean, Trump assures companies that they won't be held liable if they helped bring TikTok back online. But not everyone is sure that companies will be let off the hook that easily. Republican Senator Tom Cotton, who's also the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, warned about this on X. He said companies working with TikTok before it splits from ByteDance could face hundreds of billions of dollars in fines, not just from the Justice Department, but from shareholder lawsuits and state attorneys general.
MARTÍNEZ: All right, that's NPR's Juliana Kim. Juliana, thanks a lot.
KIM: Thank you.
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