【中美创新时报2025 年 1 月 19 日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）周日，当选总统唐纳德·特朗普表示将发布行政命令，推迟联邦对该应用的禁令后，TikTok 在美国重新焕发生机。《纽约时报》记者大卫·麦凯布对此作了下述报道。
就在几小时前，各大应用商店删除了这个受欢迎的社交媒体网站，并因联邦法律于周日生效而停止向美国用户运营。该公司在社交平台 X 上的一篇帖子中表示，“根据与服务提供商的协议，TikTok 正在恢复服务。”
特朗普周日早上在 Truth Social 上发帖称，他将“于周一发布行政命令，延长法律禁令生效前的期限，以便我们达成协议保护国家安全。”
这项禁令源于 2024 年的一项法律，该法律要求应用商店和云计算提供商停止分发或托管 TikTok，除非该应用由其中国母公司字节跳动出售。立法者通过这项法律是因为担心中国政府可能会利用这款声称拥有约 1.7 亿美国用户的应用收集有关美国人的信息或传播宣传。
不遵守法律的应用商店和云计算提供商可能会面临巨额罚款。特朗普在周日的帖子中表示，他的命令将“确认任何帮助阻止 TikTok 在我的命令发布前关闭的公司都不会承担任何责任。”
行政命令的可能性——随后 TikTok 又做出了惊人的转变——标志着围绕该应用未来的斗争进入了新阶段。该应用重塑了社交媒体格局，定义了流行文化，并为依赖该平台的数百万网红和小企业创造了生计。
特朗普发布命令将引发人们对美国法治的质疑。他的行动将构成暂时废除一项法律的企图，该法律在国会得到了两党的广泛支持，并于上周获得最高法院一致支持。
TikTok 在一份宣布该应用将重新上线的声明中表示：“我们感谢特朗普总统向我们的服务提供商提供必要的澄清和保证，他们不会因向 1.7 亿多美国人提供 TikTok 并让 700 多万小企业蓬勃发展而受到任何处罚。”
随着 TikTok 重新焕发生机，创作者们欢呼雀跃。
美妆网红詹姆斯·查尔斯 (James Charles) 在 Instagram 上发帖称：“它回来了。”自禁令生效以来，他一直在 Instagram 上与粉丝交流。
政策专家和两党议员都发出了早期警告，称该法律仍然有效且可执行。TikTok 在谷歌和苹果应用商店中仍然无法下载，这表明一些公司仍在继续执行禁令。
法律专家表示，特朗普行动的影响将取决于他发布的任何命令的细节，这可能会引发人们对总统权力范围和限度的重大质疑。
不过，“从法治的角度来看，这里没有好的道路，”明尼苏达大学法学副教授艾伦·罗森斯坦 (Alan Rozenshtein) 表示。
谷歌拒绝置评。苹果没有立即回应置评请求。在其服务器上托管 TikTok 的甲骨文也没有立即回应置评请求。
目前尚不清楚特朗普的努力——以及在他周一上任之前就为保持该应用程序在线而进行的谈判——是否会在长期内取得成功。他的行政命令可能会面临法律挑战，包括他是否有权阻止联邦法律的执行。受该法律约束的公司可能会认为，命令的文本不足以保证他们不会因违规而受到惩罚
该法律确实允许总统在找到买家的情况下批准 90 天的延期，但前提是达成将 TikTok 交到非中国公司手中的交易取得“重大进展”。该交易还必须能够在 90 天内完成，总统才能触发延期。鉴于该法律已经生效，目前尚不清楚该延期选项是否仍然存在。
特朗普在周日的帖子中提出了“希望美国在合资企业中拥有 50% 的所有权”的想法，但没有提供更多细节。
TikTok 表示，鉴于其全球业务的性质，出售是不可能的，中国已经暗示可能会阻止其至关重要的视频推荐技术的出口。
一些政策专家表示，目前的信息太少，无法就下一步行动得出结论。“特朗普在社交媒体上提出的建议似乎不合法，”前拜登政府官员彼得·哈雷尔 (Peter Harrell) 说。“我们必须看看他实际上会采取什么措施来实施它。”
周六晚些时候，TikTok 向用户发布了一条消息，称该网站无法使用，但“幸运的是，特朗普总统表示他将与我们合作找到解决方案。”
然后，在恢复服务后，TikTok 用一条消息欢迎用户回归，称“由于特朗普总统的努力，TikTok 回到了美国！”
TikTok 和几名民主党国会议员最近几天做出了最后的努力，以保持该应用程序的在线状态。民主党领袖、纽约州参议员查克·舒默私下告诉总统乔·拜登，该应用程序在他任职期间停用将损害他的政治遗产。
TikTok 的批评者开始推动可能的禁令继续实施。据三位知情人士透露，参议院情报委员会主席、阿肯色州共和党参议员汤姆·科顿最近几天致电一些大型科技公司，要求它们遵守法律。他还在周日早些时候的一份联合声明中表示，由于该法律已经生效，因此没有任何延期的余地。
在 TikTok 宣布将恢复该应用程序的服务后，科顿发布了警告。
他在 X 上的一篇帖子中表示，任何“托管、分发、服务或以其他方式促进共产党控制的 TikTok 的公司都可能面临数千亿美元的毁灭性法律责任”，不仅来自联邦政府，还来自州检察长、股东诉讼和证券法。
“想一想，”他说。
本文最初刊登于《纽约时报》。
题图：在这张照片插图中，2025 年 1 月 19 日，华盛顿特区，iPhone 在社交媒体平台 TikTok 上显示弹出消息。Kayla Bartkowski/Getty
附原英文报道：
TikTok flickers back to life after Trump says he will stall a ban
By David McCabe New York Times,Updated January 19, 2025
In this photo illustration an iPhone displays a popup message on the social media platform TikTok on January 19, 2025 in Washington, D.C.Kayla Bartkowski/Getty
TikTok flickered back to life in the United States on Sunday after President-elect Donald Trump said that he would issue an executive order to stall a federal ban of the app.
The abrupt shift came just hours after major app stores removed the popular social media site and it stopped operating for U.S. users as a federal law took effect Sunday. The company said in a post on the social platform X that in “agreement with our service providers, TikTok is in the process of restoring service.”
Trump said in a Sunday morning post on Truth Social that he would “issue an executive order on Monday 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.”
The ban stems from a 2024 law that requires app stores and cloud computing providers to stop distributing or hosting TikTok unless it is sold by its Chinese parent company, ByteDance. Lawmakers passed the law over concerns that the Chinese government could use the app, which claims roughly 170 million U.S. users, to gather information about Americans or spread propaganda.
App stores and cloud computing providers that do not comply with the law face potentially significant financial penalties. Trump said in his post Sunday that his order would “confirm that there will be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before my order.”
The possibility of an executive order — followed by TikTok’s stunning about-face — marks a new phase in the fight over the future of the app, which has reshaped the social media landscape, defined popular culture, and created a living for millions of influencers and small businesses that rely on the platform.
In issuing an order, Trump would raise questions about the rule of law in the United States. His action would constitute an attempt to temporarily neuter a law that passed with broad bipartisan support in Congress and that the Supreme Court unanimously upheld last week.
“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,” TikTok said in a statement announcing that the app was coming back online.
Creators celebrated as TikTok sputtered back to life.
“ITS BACKKKKK,” James Charles, a beauty influencer, posted on Instagram, where he had been communicating with fans since the ban took effect.
Policy experts and lawmakers from both sides of the aisle issued early warnings that the law is still valid and enforceable. TikTok remained unavailable for downloads on the Google and Apple app stores, suggesting that some companies continued to enforce the ban.
Legal experts said that the impact of Trump’s action would hinge on the details of any order he released, which is likely to provoke significant questions about the reach and limits of the president’s authority.
Still, “there’s no good path here from a rule of law perspective,” said Alan Rozenshtein, an associate professor of law at the University of Minnesota.
Google declined to comment. Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Oracle, which hosts TikTok on its servers, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It is unclear whether Trump’s efforts — and the negotiations to keep the app online that happened before he even takes office Monday — will be successful in the long term. His executive order could face a legal challenge, including over whether he has the power to stop enforcement of a federal law. Companies subject to the law may determine that the text of an order does not provide enough assurance that they will not be punished for violations
The law does allow a president to grant a 90-day extension if a buyer is found, but only if there is “significant progress” toward a deal that puts TikTok in the hands of a non-Chinese company. That deal also has to be able to be completed within the 90 days for the president to trigger the extension. And it’s unclear if that extension option still exists, given that the law is already in effect.
In his post Sunday, Trump floated the idea that he “would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture,” without providing further details.
TikTok has said that a sale is impossible, citing the nature of its global operations, and China has already signaled that it could block the export of its all-important video-recommendation technology.
Some policy experts said there is too little information to draw a conclusion about the next steps. “What Trump has proposed on social media seems lawless,” said Peter Harrell, a former Biden administration official. “We’ll have to see what he actually does to implement it.”
Late Saturday, TikTok posted a message for users saying that the site was unavailable but, it was “fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution.”
Then, after restoring service, TikTok welcomed back users with a message saying, “As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.!”
TikTok and several Democratic members of Congress in recent days mounted a last-ditch effort to keep the app online. Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, privately told President Joe Biden that the app going dark on his watch would hurt his legacy.
Critics of TikTok started their own push to keep the possible ban on track. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., chair of the Senate’s intelligence committee, called some of the major tech companies in recent days to say they needed to comply with the law, according to three people familiar with the calls. He also said in a joint statement earlier Sunday that there was no room for any type of extension, since the law had already taken effect.
After TikTok announced it would restore service to the app, Cotton posted a warning.
Any “company that hosts, distributes, services, or otherwise facilitates communist-controlled TikTok could face hundreds of billions of dollars of ruinous liability under the law,” not just from the federal government but also state attorneys general, shareholder lawsuits and under securities law, he said in a post on X.
“Think about it,” he said.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
