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TikTok back online in America after Trump pauses ban

Image of the TikTok logoImage source, Getty Images

TikTok is working again in America after Donald Trump said he would pause the ban on the app when he starts his job as US president on Monday.

Over the weekend, the app stopped working for millions of people in the US after a law banning it came into effect.

It comes after America's highest court ruled that a TikTok ban in America could go ahead from Sunday 19 January.

Last year, politicians in the US passed a law ordering the app's Chinese owners, Bytedance, to sell it to a US company or face a ban because they say they are worried about US users' data being given to China.

ByteDance deny this does, or would, happen and challenged the decision - but the US Supreme Court have now rejected the appeal and the app is set to be banned.

Will TikTok still work in the UK?

A picture of the TikTok logo.Image source, Getty Images

TikTok is one of the world's most popular social media apps.

More than a billion people all around the globe use it every month for funny videos, dance crazes, songs and even news.

Laws in the US don't affect how people can use their phones in the UK, and none of what has happened in America will see the app banned here, unless the UK government decides to follow a similar path, which it hasn't suggested it will do.

So TikTok will still work in the UK, and users will still be able to view videos and post them.

Have other countries banned Tiktok?

a protestor with a 'keep tiktok' signImage source, Getty Images

America is not the first country to look at banning TikTok.

In 2020, India banned a number of Chinese apps, including TikTok and the popular messaging app WeChat.

India's government claimed these apps were using data illegally, and secretly collecting information from people's phones when they download the apps.

At the time, it said letting its citizens use these apps was a threat to India's national security.

After the ban was announced, the head of TikTok in India, Nikhil Gandhi, released a statement challenging the Indian government's accusation of TikTok misusing data.

"TikTok continues to comply with all data privacy and security requirements under Indian law and has not shared any information of our users in India with any foreign government, including the Chinese government," he said.