NEW YORK (AP) — During his first term as president, Donald Trump led the effort to ban TikTok, the hugely popular video-sharing site he said posed a threat to U.S. national security. But on the eve of his return to the White House, the president-elect is being hailed as the app’s savior.

President-elect Donald Trump says he plans to issue an executive order that would give TikTok’s China-based parent company more time to find an approved buyer before the popular video-sharing platform is subject to a permanent ban in the US.

Trump’s brief message lays out his intention to seek partial American ownership of TikTok, but it isn’t clear he has authority to suspend the law that shut it down this weekend.

Trump has said he has a "warm spot" for the app, a distinct change of heart after his first administration first called for a ban on TikTok.

The app had more than 170 million monthly users in the U.S. The black-out is the result of a law forcing the service offline unless it sheds its ties to ByteDance, its China-based parent company.

The Supreme Court upheld a law that requires TikTok's Chinese owner to sell off the app's U.S. business or face a nationwide ban Sunday.