"Didn’t he say he wanted it banned in 2020?" — Internet divided over Trump promising to sign an executive order delaying the TikTok ban

On Sunday, January 19, a tweet about Donald Trump's decision to issue an executive order extending the time TikTok had to sell to a US company was uploaded by PopBase.

The tweet contained Trump's statement about the matter, which read:

"My initial thought is a joint venture between the current owners and/or new owners whereby the U.S. gets a 50% ownership in a joint venture set up between the U.S. and whichever purchase we so choose."

The tweet has since gone viral, receiving over 1.9 million views, 14K likes, and 1.9K reshares. Netizens have a divided reaction to it, with one user commenting:

"but didn't he say he wanted it banned in 2020? the switch up"

Some netizens speculated that Trump's effort to save the app's ban was a move to "appease the public".

"He's now trying to appease the public by extending TikTok's time to sell, but he was originally the main advocate for banning it due to national security concerns during his presidency." - wrote a netizen.

"You can't just issue an executive order. That being said, this still doesn't fix the fact he is going to tariff all imported chinese goods. ie temu, alibaba, aliexpress... TikTok and CapCut should be brought back." - commented a second X user.

"the way he planned this from the beginning" - added another.

Meanwhile, others pointed out that TikTok's ownership in a joint venture could be "pretty wild," especially since the app's owner has maintained their unwillingness about giving up ownership so far.

"A 50% ownership in a joint venture is pretty wild. I'm looking forward to see how this plays out, especially with all the security concerns. What do you guys think about this?" - replied a fourth user.

"I thought TikTok didn’t want to give up any ownership bc then the U.S. could abuse their algorithm?" - wrote a fifth one.

"Trump bringing back TikTok and wanting the U.S. to own 50%? Looks like we’re going from ‘For You Page’ to ‘For Uncle Sam Page.’ Guess the first dance trend will be to Hail to the Chief!" - commented a sixth netizen.

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TikTok restored its service less than a day after the ban

Donald Trump's statement about extending the time the app received for deciding to sell has led to the app restoring its services in the US less than a day after the ban took effect.

In a statement about its restoration, the Chinese app thanked the President-elect, who will be inaugurated on Monday, January 20, adding:

"We thank President Trump for providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties providing TikTok to over 170 million Americans and allowing over 7 million small businesses to thrive."

The statement continued:

"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."

It comes after ByteDance, the owner of the platform, shut down service in the US voluntarily, hours before the Sunday deadline issued by the Supreme Court.

The law about banning the app was passed by Congress in 2024, under the Biden administration, offering ByteDance time until January 19, 2025, to either divest from the app or be cut off from the app stores and hosting services in the US.

A few hours after the ban took effect, Trump posted on social media about his decision to restore the platform by issuing an executive order on Monday.

In his statement, the 78-year-old added that the companies that helped keep the app from going dark would face no liabilities.

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Whether or not ByteDance changes its decision not to give up ownership within the extension period remains to be seen.