Photo: CHRIS DELMAS / AFP / Getty Images
TikTok ceased operations in the United States on Saturday night (January 18), hours before a ban was set to take effect. At 10:30 p.m. ET, U.S. users found the app inaccessible, displaying a message stating, "Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now. A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now."
"We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office." Please stay tuned!" the message continued.
The shutdown comes as a law banning TikTok in the U.S. is enacted, requiring its parent company, ByteDance, to divest its stake to a non-foreign adversary entity.
The decision to shut down was made after the Supreme Court rejected TikTok's appeal to halt the law, which passed with bipartisan support last year. The law, signed by President Joe Biden, aims to address national security concerns over TikTok's data practices and its ties to China. The app's removal from Apple’s App Store and Google Play Store followed the shutdown, along with CapCut, another app owned by ByteDance.
President-elect Donald Trump indicated he might issue a 90-day extension to the ban, but legal authority for such an action remains uncertain. The law requires binding legal agreements for ByteDance's divestment to trigger an extension, which is not currently in place. Congress could potentially pass legislation to delay the ban or amend the law to allow ByteDance to retain ownership under certain conditions.