TikTok users in the United States gained partial access to the popular social media app on Sunday, just hours before President-elect Donald Trump's promised reinstatement order was expected to take effect.

TikTok was taken offline earlier on Saturday after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to save the app from a new law that would have required owner ByteDance to sell the popular short-video app to a U.S. company - which is the site of a first-of-its-kind operation targeting widely used social media.

Trump, who will be sworn in on Monday, promised to issue the executive order as soon as he takes office and give the company more time to comply. At a rally ahead of his inauguration on Sunday, Trump declared that "starting today, TikTok is back," and credited the app with helping him win over young voters in the November election.

Here's what you need to know about the ban and Trump's promise:

How Trump reversed TikTok ban?

President-elect Trump, who has previously supported a TikTok ban, pledged on Sunday to temporarily halt the federal ban through an executive order.

Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform that the order would "extend the time before the legal ban takes effect" and allow TikTok to find a US company to share 50% ownership with it.

Trump previously said in interviews with the media that the order would initially last for 90 days.

Does TikTok now operate in the US?

TikTok confirmed in a statement on Sunday that it was "resuming service." The company also thanked Trump for "providing clear information and assurances to our service providers that they will not face any penalties."

According to US news outlet NPR, TikTok's hosting providers Oracle and Akamai have also resumed services.

US users received a "Welcome back" message on the app on Sunday and can now use it. The message read in part: "TikTok is back in the U.S. thanks to President Trump's efforts."

Earlier on Saturday, users visiting the site could only see a notice: "The United States has enacted a law banning TikTok. Unfortunately, this means you cannot use TikTok now."

TikTok President Shou Zi Chew also sent a memo to advertisers on Sunday, saying the app would be back online for "most U.S. users," technology website The Verge reported. "We anticipate that some temporary service instability may impact advertising in the United States, including live advertising campaigns," he wrote.

Will TikTok be available on the App Store again?

not yet. As of Monday, new downloads were not available through the Google or Apple App Stores, and only users who had downloaded the app before the ban had access to it. Google said it had paused the download, citing "U.S. legal requirements."

Meanwhile, the Apple Store said the TikTok and Bytedance apps are "not available in your country or region."

The law banning TikTok imposes heavy fines on companies that provide support services for the company.

Why is this app banned?

Concerns about TikTok have been around for years. In 2020, then-President Trump led an unsuccessful effort to ban the platform and urged Microsoft to acquire it. However, TikTok agreed at the time to cooperate with Oracle on data protection technology.

Republicans and Democrats continue to push for a ban on TikTok due to national security concerns and concerns about data privacy breaches. Officials claim that the Chinese government has access to the data of more than 170 million U.S. users through parent company ByteDance and can manipulate algorithms to promote Chinese propaganda.

In March 2023, Congress grilled TikTok President Chew for five hours, questioning China's alleged influence on the app. Zhou insists he has no evidence that the Chinese government has accessed or requested data to access U.S. users' data.

However, in March 2024, lawmakers passed the Protecting Americans from Applications Controlled by Foreign Adversaries Act (PAFACA). Under the agreement, ByteDance was given an ultimatum: Either divest ownership to a U.S. entity or cease operations. In April, outgoing US President Joe Biden signed it into law. The new policy sets a January 19, 2025 deadline for TikTok, which the company must comply with or face being banned.

TikTok challenged the ban in appeals courts and the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing it violated free speech rights. On Friday, a court upheld the law, dealing a heavy blow to the company. Other Bytedance apps, such as video editing app CapCut and video sharing platform Lemon8, were also blacklisted.

Are there accusations of racial scapegoating?

Analysts have expressed concerns about what they say is bias in the case, noting that other social media sites present similar data mining risks, but Tiktok was singled out because Chinese entrepreneurs own it.

Some Chinese Americans in particular have called the ban an example of bias and racial scapegoating. There are concerns that if the TikTok ban continues, other Chinese companies such as Alipay may also be targeted.

Human rights groups such as Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC) strongly opposed the ban, calling it a "xenophobic act."

The AAJC said in a statement after the bill was signed into law last April that "calls against TikTok are profoundly hypocritical and filled with xenophobia in response to the privacy-based violations routinely committed by U.S. companies like Meta and Alphabet." ”

How are people reacting to Trump's order?

Some Republican lawmakers objected to Trump's statement. On Sunday, Senators Tom Cotton and Pete Ricketts said in a joint statement that unless ByteDance agrees to sever TikTok’s “ties” with China, “any "Form of 'extension'" has no legal basis.

Senators praised Apple, Google, Microsoft and Amazon for following the law. "We encourage other companies to do the same," they added, warning that companies working with TikTok risked "devastating bankruptcy."

Elon Musk, the founder of X and a close ally of Trump, has spoken out against the TikTok ban, saying it could infringe on freedom of speech and expression. On Sunday, Musk reiterated his stance but said that "the current situation of allowing TikTok to operate in the United States but not allowing X to operate in China is unbalanced."

Twitter is also officially banned in China. Corporate and government accounts use the platform, but only through a government-approved virtual private network (VPN).

Nonetheless, Chinese Foreign Minister Mao Ning urged the United States to provide an "open, free, fair and non-discriminatory" business environment at a press conference on Monday, saying that TikTok promoted American employment.

Ning also responded to Musk's statement, saying, "We welcome Internet companies from all over the world to develop in China, as long as they comply with Chinese laws and regulations and provide safe and reliable products and services."