TikTok goes offline in the US hours before ban comes in
2025-01-19
Category: news

TikTok has gone offline in the US, hours before a new law banning the platform was due to come into effect.A message appearing on the app for US users said a law banning TikTok had been enacted, meaning "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," it read.It comes after the social media platform warned it would "go dark" on Sunday unless the outgoing Biden administration gave assurances the ban will not be enforced. President-elect Donald Trump has said he would "most likely" give TikTok a 90-day reprieve from a ban once he takes office on Monday. 
Users reported the app had also been removed from both Apple and Google's US app stores and TikTok.com was not showing videos."The 90-day extension is something that will be most likely done, because it's appropriate," Trump told NBC News on Saturday. "If I decide to do that, I'll probably announce it on Monday."The White House said that it was up to the incoming administration to take action."We see no reason for TikTok or other companies to take actions in the next few days before the Trump administration takes office on Monday," press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.
The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the law, passed in April last year,  banning the app in the US unless its China-based parent company, ByteDance, sold the platform by Sunday, which it has not done.TikTok has argued that the law violates free speech protections for its 170 million users in the country.After the ruling, TikTok's chief executive, Shou Zi Chew, appealed to Trump, thanking him for his "commitment to work with us to find a solution."Mr Chew is expected to attend Trump's inauguration on Monday.In the hours leading up to the social media platform going offline, content creators had been posting videos to say goodbye to their followers.Creator Nicole Bloomgarden told the BBC that not being on TikTok would result in a significant salary cut. Another user, Erika Thompson, said educational content on the platform would be the "biggest loss" for the community.TikTok users were met with a message earlier on Saturday that said the law would "force us to make our services temporarily unavailable. We're working to restore our service in the U.S. as soon as possible."