VIDEO: TikTok has been restored in the US, but for how long?

HAGAR COHEN, REPORTER: It’s been an anxious weekend for TikTok’s 170 million American users. 

(Montage of TikTok videos)

HAGAR COHEN:  Hours before a legislated ban was due to come into force, TikTok went dark in the states. 

(Montage of TikTok videos)

HAGAR COHEN:  New Jersey based TikToker Shiloh shares their life on the platform and earns a bit of extra money through their videos. 

SHILOH:  In 2018 I was diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder. I kind of just wanted to find a community so that I didn't feel so alone

To my surprise, at the time, I found a giant community, and we kind of all came together. I met my husband on there,

The first time I heard that it might be banned, I was in disbelief.

HAGAR COHEN:  But less than 14 hours after going dark, TikTok was back.

(Montage of TikTok videos)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT:  And as of today, TikTok is back. 

HAGAR COHEN:  Incoming President Donald Trump promising to delay the ban after his inauguration tomorrow. 

(Montage of TikTok videos)

HAGAR COHEN: Australian content creator Maddy MacCrae’s fulltime job is posting TikTok videos. 

MADDY MACCRAE:  I mean TikTok as a job in itself, I didn’t even know was possible. 

When that first happened for me, it was crazy. I grew, I think, a million followers within nine months of being on the app

HAGAR COHEN:  She makes a living through brand partnerships and almost half of her followers are American.

The last few days have made her nervous. 

MADDY MACCRAE:  If I was to lose my TikTok audience, my American TikTok audience, I think that my following would stay the same, but my engagement would lower which doesn't really look good for a brand who wants to work with me. 

If they're not paying for me to post on TikTok, then that's 50 per cent of my income gone. 

So it's stressful, definitely, and but I guess we adapt, and we all will. 

HAGAR COHEN:  A ban was first floated by Trump during his first term as president, citing national security concerns. 

Journalise Zeyi Yang covers Chinese technology and says TikTok has been politically controversial since it started in the US since 2017. 

ZEYI YANG, JOURNALIST, WIRED:  This is the first time a non-American social media platform has become so hugely popular, right. 

That just creates a lot of uncertainty for the US government, like, how do we deal with this? 

HAGAR COHEN:  The app’s owner ByteDance is Chinese. 

ZEYI YANG:  TikTok, like a lot of other social media apps, collects a swath of information from its users. So, the American politicians are also concerned that maybe this information itself, will also fall into the hands of the Chinese government. 

HAGAR COHEN:  In April last year the American Congress passed a law banning TikTok with overwhelming bipartisan support which was reinforced by the Supreme Court. 

ByteDance would have to sell to an American company or face total shutdown.

DONALD TRUMP:  I’m going to have start thinking about TikTok. 

HAGAR COHEN:  But President Trump has recently changed his mind saying he will sign an executive order to keep TikTok alive. 

ZEYI YANG:  Trump believes that he has a lot of support on TikTok among the young people. That's the main reason why he wants to keep TikTok alive in the United States. 

HAGAR COHEN:  Not everyone agrees that the ban is all about national security. 

MARINA ZHANG, AUSTRALIA-CHINA RELATIONS INSTITUTE:  Soft power now is, is is reflected in tech rivalry. Digital platforms have become a centre of the competition between the two countries. The stakes are really high in this game. 

HAGAR COHEN:  As the shutdown neared over the past few days, Americans flocked to another Chinese social media app RedNote or Little Red Book. 

Dr Marina Zhang says Chinese RedNote users welcomed the new arrivals. 

MARINA ZHANG:  Well, they're celebrating. It's very funny. So they're sort of using the term of TikTok refugees migrating to Little Red Book.

HAGAR COHEN: Twenty-nine year old Shiloh says many US tiktokers signed up with RedNote, as a form of protest 

SHILOH:  If they're going to say that China is taking our data, then we're going to go and, in a form of protest, willingly give our data to China.

HAGAR COHEN:  They don't buy in to arguments that TikTok is bad news for Americans. 

SHILOH:  TikTok was so much more than just an app. We were able to organise, we were able to show what was really going on in the world firsthand. We were able to encourage people to go out and protest and I think that scared them.

MADDY MACCRAE:  This is how we communicate. This is how we connect. It's so integral to our way of life that I feel like they'll make a way to make it work. I hope they do.