TikTok has gone dark in the US, the result of a federal law banning the popular short-form video app from millions of Americans — at least for now.
TikTok users started receiving a message about the ban around 10:30 PM ET. As of Saturday evening, the app is also no longer available in the Apple or Google Play app stores.
“Sorry, TikTok is currently unavailable,” the company’s message read. “A law has been passed banning TikTok in the United States, and unfortunately, this means that you cannot use TikTok at this time.”
The message also indicates that this may just be a temporary disappearance. TikTok credits President-elect Donald Trump for noting that he “will work with us on a solution to bring TikTok back once he’s in office,” while urging users to “follow along!”
The company warned earlier this week that the app’s disappearance was imminent, saying on Friday that it “will disappear” unless President Joe Biden’s administration makes a “final statement” that it will not enforce the ban.
Bipartisan majorities in the House and Senate last April passed a law requiring TikTok owner ByteDance to either sell the app or ban it in the United States over concerns about potential Chinese surveillance, and Biden quickly signed the bill. While efforts to force ByteDance to divest go back to the first Trump administration, it has taken a different tone recently. Trump asked the Supreme Court to postpone the ban and said he would do so “probably” Give the company a 90-day extension.
The Supreme Court issued a ruling upholding the law on Friday. The Biden administration seemed inclined to leave the fate of the application in the hands of the next president. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre noted that with the law taking effect just before Trump’s inauguration on Monday, “actions to implement the law should simply fall to the next administration.” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco issued a similar statement, saying, “The next phase of this effort — implementing the law and ensuring compliance with it after it goes into effect on January 19 — will be a process that continues over time.”
However, TikTok noted that this was not enough assurance for “significant service providers” to continue listing or hosting the app in the US unless the Biden administration issues the “final statement” mentioned above. Jean-Pierre called TikTok’s response a “stunt” and claimed that “there is no reason for TikTok or other companies to take action in the next few days before the Trump administration takes office on Monday.”
Hoax or not, TikTok is gone for now.
As for the app’s long-term prospects, Trump said he plans to “negotiate a solution” that would presumably include a sale or other concessions from ByteDance, which has repeatedly said it is not interested in selling but appears optimistic about its prospects under Trump.
Trump Repeat for NBC News on Saturday that he would “most likely” give TikTok a 90-day reprieve from the ban once he takes office on Monday.
“I think that would certainly be an option that we would look at. The 90-day extension is the thing that would probably be implemented, because it’s appropriate. You know, that’s appropriate. We have to look at it carefully. It’s a very big situation,” Trump told the outlet.
Several potential buyers have thrown their hats into the ring, hoping for a chance to woo TikTok’s 170 million users, from billionaire Frank McCourt making a “grassroots pitch” to Perplexity AI proposing a merger.
There was even a report indicating that the Chinese government was considering a sale to Elon Musk as part of a broader deal with the Trump administration. A TikTok spokesperson called this report “pure fiction.”
Meanwhile, Chinese-owned alternative apps like RedNote and Lemon8 have received a boost as TikTok users look for alternatives.