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TikTok restores service in US after Trump pledge

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TikTok is resuming services to its 170 million users in US after President-elect Donald Trump said he would issue an executive order to give the app a reprieve when he takes office on Monday.

On Saturday evening, the Chinese-owned app stopped working for American users, after a law banning it on national security grounds came into effect.

Trump, who had previously backed a ban of the platform, promised on Sunday to delay implementation of the law and allow more time for a deal to be made. TikTok then said that it was in the process of “restoring service”.

Soon after, the app started working again and a popup message to its millions of users thanked Trump by name. In a statement, the company thanked the incoming president for “providing the necessary clarity and assurance” and said it would work with Trump “on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States”.

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TikTok CEO Shou Chew is expected to attend Trump’s inauguration Monday.

Posting on Truth Social, a social media platform he owns, Trump said on Sunday: “I’m asking companies not to let TikTok stay dark! I will 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.”

TikTok’s parent company, Bytedance, previously ignored a law requiring it to sell its US operations to avoid a ban. The law was upheld by Supreme Court on Friday and went into effect on Sunday.

It is unclear what legal authority Trump will have to delay the implementation of a law that is already in effect. But it expected that his government will not enforce the ban if he issues an executive order.

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It’s an about-face from his previous position. Trump had backed a TikTok ban, but has more recently professed a “warm spot” for the app, touting the billions of views he says his videos attracted on the platform during last year’s presidential campaign.

For its part, President Joe Biden’s administration had already said that it would not enforce the law in its last hours in office and instead allow the process to play out under the incoming Trump administration.

But TikTok had pulled its services anyway on Saturday evening, before the swift restoration of access on Sunday.

The short-form video platform is wildly popular among its many millions of US users. It has also proved a valuable tool for American political campaigns to reach younger voters.

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Under the law passed last April, the US version of the app had to be removed from app stores and web-hosting services if its Chinese owner ByteDance did not sell its US operations.

TikTok had argued before the Supreme Court that the law violated free speech protections for its users in the country.

The law was passed with support from both Republicans and Democrats in Congress and was upheld unanimously by Supreme Court justices earlier this week.

The issue exposes a rift on a key national security issues between the president-elect and members of his own party. His pick for Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, had vocally supported the ban.

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“TikTok extended the Chinese Communist Party’s power and influence into our own nation, right under our noses,” he said last April. But he seemed to defer to the president-elect when a journalist asked if he supported Trump’s efforts to restore the ban.

“If I’m confirmed as secretary of State, I’ll work for the president,” he told Punchbowl media last week.

After Trump intervened on Sunday morning, Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Tom Cotton, a Republican senator from Arkansas, broke with Trump by saying that any company that helps TikTok stay online would be breaking the law.

“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 DOJ, but also under securities law, shareholder lawsuits, and state AGs,” he wrote on social media.

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An executive order that goes against the law could be fought in court.

Several states have also sued the platform, opening up the possibility to TikTok being banned by local jurisdictions, even if it is available nationally.

Although the platform went live again on Sunday for existing users, the question of whether third-parties – hosting platforms or app stores like Google or Apple – could support TikTok in the US remains murky, says University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias. The app had been removed from those stores in anticipation of the ban.

“It is murky,” he told the BBC.

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In a post on Truth media, Trump promised to shield companies from liability, opening the door to TikTok being available on Apple and Google again.

“The order will also confirm that there will be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before my order,” the president-elect said on Truth Social Sunday.

But during the Supreme Court hearings, Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar was adamant that an executive order cannot change the law retroactively.

“Whatever the new president does, doesn’t change that reality for these companies,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor said during the hearings.

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“That’s right,” Prelogar said.

Professor Tobias said that the law does include a provision that would allow the president to postpone the ban for up to 90 days, if he can show that the company is making substantial progress on alleviating national security issues. But, he said, it’s not clear whether those conditions have been met.

“The best thing Trump could do is work with Congress, and not potentially be in violation of the law or have any questions left hanging,” he said.

“I don’t know that we’re going to know a whole lot more until we see that executive order.”

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Economy

Naira nosedives to N1,615/$ in parallel market

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The naira depreciated to N1, 615 per dollar in the parallel market from N1,610 per dollar on Monday.
Likewise, the Naira depreciated to N1,602 per dollar in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market (NFEM).

Data published by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, showed that the indicative exchange rate for the naira rose to N1,602 per dollar from N1,596 per dollar on Monday, indicating N6 depreciation for the naira.

Consequently, the margin between the parallel market and NFEM rate narrowed to N13 per dollar from N14 per dollar on Monday.

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Economy

Stock Market Surges: N228bn Gain Sets the Tone for a Strong Trading to Week

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The Nigerian stock market opened the week on a bullish note on Monday, gaining N228 billion on the Nigerian Exchange Ltd.

Market capitalisation rose by N228 billion or 0.34 per cent and closed at N66.693 trillion compared to Friday’s figure of N66.465 trillion.

Similarly, the All-Share Index (ASI) climbed by 363.57 points or 0.34 per cent, reaching 106,116.18 from 105,752.61 recorded earlier.

The Nigerian stock market opened the week on a bullish note on Monday, gaining N228 billion on the Nigerian Exchange Ltd.

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Market capitalisation rose by N228 billion or 0.34 per cent and closed at N66.693 trillion compared to Friday’s figure of N66.465 trillion.

Similarly, the All-Share Index (ASI) climbed by 363.57 points or 0.34 per cent, reaching 106,116.18 from 105,752.61 recorded earlier.

The positive trend was driven by strong buying interest in medium and large-cap stocks including International Breweries, Legend Internet Plc, Cadbury Nigeria, Fidson and more.

In spite of the upward trend, the market breadth closed positively, with 47 gainers and 16 losers.

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International Breweries led the gainers’ chart, rising by 10 per cent to close at N8.47 per share.

Legend Internet Plc followed, appreciating by 9.97 per cent to settle at N7.50 per share.

Cadbury Nigeria gained by 9.96 per cent, and end the day at N29.25, while Fidson rose by 9.95 per cent to close at N20.45 per share.

Eterna also advanced by 9.90 per cent to close at N43.85 per share.

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On the losers’ chart, Livestock Feeds dropped by 10 per cent, closing at N8.55 per share.

Aradel Holdings declined by 9.86 per cent to end the session at N448.00 per share

Tripple Gee fell by 9.60 per cent to close at N1.79, while John Holt Plc shed 7.94 per cent to close at N5.80 per share.

Linkage Assurance lost by 6.15 per cent, and finished the day at N1.22 per share.

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A total of 500.59 million shares worth N12.110 billion were traded in 17,637 transactions.

This is compared to Friday’s 428.08 million shares worth N20.174 billion, exchanged across 14,284 transactions.

Access Corporation led the activity chart with 60.867 million shares traded, which was worth N1.45 billion.

Fidelity Bank followed with 56.105 million shares valued at N1.13 billion while the United Bank for Africa sold 34.53 million shares worth N1.174 billion.

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Guarantee Trust Holding Company transacted 33.49 million shares valued at N2.181 billion and the Nigerian Breweries traded 28.336 million shares, amounting to N1.15 billion.

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Economy

OPay Scam Alerts advises Nigerians to remain vigilant against dubious activities

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You are just seconds away from sending money – the offer sounds perfect, the seller seems trustworthy and the clock is ticking.

But just before you hit send, one of Nigeria’s leading financial institutions, OPay flashes a critical warning: “Caution – this account has been linked to suspicious activity.”

In that moment, the rush fades, your instincts kick in, and you realise you were on the brink of falling for a scam. One smart alert, one timely pause — and your hard-earned money stays exactly where it should: safe.

This is the power behind OPay’s multi-layered scam alert system — an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven, real-time defense network designed to detect and stop fraudulent transactions before they happen.

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At the heart of it is a machine learning engine trained on thousands of scam patterns, user reports, flagged accounts, and unusual transaction behaviors. But OPay’s approach goes far beyond a single alert.

How OPay’s scam alert ecosystem works

Abnormal Transaction Pop-Up Reminders

When suspicious behavior is detected, OPay immediately interrupts the flow with a clear, targeted pop-up message. Every day, over 60,000 users receive these urgent fraud warnings — and thanks to that, 30,000 risky transactions are stopped in their tracks.

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Intelligent Outbound Call Reminders

For higher-risk transactions, OPay activates a multi-channel response, sending warnings via SMS, email, app notifications, and even escalating to customer service calls. This proactive layer reaches more than 10,000 users daily, discouraging over 8,000 fraudulent transactions.

Interactive Q&A Verification

In cases where more context is needed, users are engaged with real-time Question & Answer (Q&A) prompts to understand the purpose of their transaction. If red flags are confirmed, the system presents a tailored warning or ends the transaction flow altogether. This feature alone helps deter over 46,000 scam attempts daily from the 50,000+ users who interact with it.

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Together, these layers form a real-time scam detection and prevention engine that evolves with every user interaction. OPay’s system doesn’t just warn — it learns and adapts, constantly improving its accuracy and response time.

Many users don’t even know they’re in danger until OPay steps in. As one X user, @JAHS, shared: “OPay alerted me that I might be sending money to a scammer when I wanted to patronize an IG vendor. Stopped the transaction ASAP.”

These interventions are happening silently, daily – often before the user even suspects something is wrong.

OPay’s scam alert system is part of a broader philosophy: security is not just about technology – it’s about trust. From scam alerts to Face ID transaction verification, USSD instant account locking, the Large Transaction Shield, and automated callback alerts, every tool is designed to protect users in the moments they can’t predict.

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As scams get more sophisticated, the future of financial safety depends on real-time prevention. And OPay isn’t waiting for fraud to happen — it’s stopping it in its tracks. Sometimes, the smartest financial decision you make… is the one OPay helped you avoid.

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