TikTok has gone dark across the United States following the enforcement of a contentious ban-or-divest law passed last year. The app, used by an estimated 170 million Americans, has been removed from both Apple and Google app stores, rendered inaccessible on the web, and now blocks users from viewing videos in its app.
This shutdown, effective from Sunday evening, is the first time a social media network of TikTok’s scale has been deliberately taken offline indefinitely. While platforms like Facebook and Twitter have faced outages, no social media giant has experienced an enforced shutdown of this magnitude.
The law, signed in April by President Joe Biden, demands that TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, sell its U.S. operations to a non-Chinese entity or face a nationwide ban. Legislators cited national security concerns as the primary rationale for the law, pointing to ByteDance’s alleged ties to the Chinese government and the potential misuse of personal data collected from U.S. citizens.
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ByteDance, however, has refused to divest its stake in TikTok, arguing that the concerns are overblown and politically motivated. The company’s resistance led to months of legal battles, culminating in a Supreme Court decision last week that upheld the law and rejected TikTok’s arguments that it violated free speech protections.
In response to the legal developments, TikTok preemptively ceased its operations in the U.S. Starting at 9 PM ET on Saturday, the app began displaying a warning message to users: “We regret that a U.S. law banning TikTok will take effect on January 19th and force us to make our services temporarily unavailable. We’re working to restore our service in the U.S. as soon as possible, and we appreciate your support. Please stay tuned.”
By 10:30 PM ET, users attempting to access the platform were greeted with a notice explaining the shutdown and expressing optimism about a potential resolution under the incoming Trump administration:
“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 notice said.
Other apps owned by ByteDance, including the video editing tool CapCut and the social platform Lemon8, were also taken offline.
The Role of the Biden Administration
Despite signing the law, the Biden administration has distanced itself from enforcing the ban, saying it would leave the matter to the incoming Trump administration. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre dismissed TikTok’s decision to go dark as “a stunt,” stating on Saturday: “We have seen the most recent statement from TikTok. It is a stunt, and 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.”
The administration maintained that it had provided clear assurances to ByteDance and TikTok that enforcement would not occur under its watch. However, TikTok has argued that without explicit guarantees and clarity about potential legal consequences, it was left with no choice but to shut down.
Trump’s Unexpected Role
The fate of TikTok now rests with President-elect Donald Trump, who will assume office on Monday. Trump’s position marked a dramatic shift from his first term when he signed executive orders to ban TikTok and the Chinese messaging app WeChat over similar concerns. The courts blocked those efforts at the time.
In recent days, however, Trump has expressed a willingness to explore alternatives to the ban. Speaking to NBC News on Saturday, Trump indicated that he might grant ByteDance a 90-day extension to divest TikTok’s U.S. operations:
“The 90-day extension is something that will most likely be done because it’s appropriate. We have to look at it carefully. It’s a very big situation,” Trump said.
The law allows for such an extension under specific conditions: evidence of a clear path to divestiture, significant progress toward executing a sale, and legally binding agreements enabling its completion. So far, no binding agreements have been made public.
Trump’s reversal comes after meeting with an American investor in TikTok last year, a meeting believed to have influenced his softened stance.
ByteDance’s refusal to sell TikTok has left millions of U.S. users without access to the platform and sparked protests among fans. Some users have turned to alternative Chinese apps like RedNote despite similar concerns about data privacy.
“People who don’t actively use TikTok don’t get it. I learn so many recipes, plan dates, learn make-up hacks, have made travel it itineraries, keep up with current events and watched so many relatable stories on there. Its so much more than dances, it’s just the best app eve,” an American user named Logan lamented.
Meanwhile, lawmakers who support the ban argue that action against TikTok is necessary to prevent Chinese influence over a major media platform that could be used for propaganda. Critics, however, see the law as an overreach that infringes on free speech and unfairly targets Chinese companies.