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TikTok went dark in the US 90 minutes before a federal ban was set to go into effect on Sunday.
Around 10:30 p.m., TikTok users opened the platform to find the following message: “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 platform then gave its 170 million American users the option to click close app or learn more, taking them back to the same screen.
The shutdown comes a day after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a law barring TikTok from U.S. consumers, citing threats to national security. President Joe Biden signed legislation in April requiring TikTok to be sold by its owner, Chinese company ByteDance, or face a ban.
The law, called the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, gave the company 270 days. The clock was due to run out on Saturday night and no buyer had emerged in public.
Backers of the law argue that ByteDance’s ownership gives the Chinese government a potential backdoor into the private information of its U.S. users and a powerful covert propaganda tool.
TikTok and its supporters argue that the company has already made efforts to separate its U.S. users’ data from ByteDance and that banning it would infringe on free speech and the livelihoods of millions of people. About seven million people in the U.S. make an income from TikTok.
In a last-minute effort to save the app from being barred across the country, artificial intelligence company, Perplexity AI, submitted a bid Saturday to merge its platform with TikTok.
The proposal was submitted to ByteDance. The new product would have combined Perplexity, TikTok U.S. and new partners, according to CNBC, and enabled a majority of current investors to keep their equity stakes.
But, that merger would’ve likely taken months.
After the Supreme Court decision, TikTok warned it would “go dark” in the U.S. on Sunday unless the Biden administration provided clarity on how the ban would be enforced. Service providers like Google and Apple were concerned they’d be subjected to heavy penalties if they continued to host the app.
President-elect Donald Trump had asked the Supreme Court to delay its decision while he sought a “political” solution.
However, his second term will not begin until noon on January 20. Trump, who once tried to ban TikTok and advocated for its removal, has turned into an unexpected savior – promising to “save” it. He has said he is open to giving the app a 90-day reprieve, telling NBC’s Kristen Welker: “I think that would be, certainly, an option that we look at,” he said.
“The 90-day extension is something that will be most likely done, because it’s appropriate. You know, it’s appropriate. We have to look at it carefully. It’s a very big situation.”
The incoming president could try to negotiate a deal with TikTok and ByteDance or lobby Congress to repeal or amend the legislation to ensure the platform’s continued existence in the U.S. It’s unclear how feasible that would be.
Even if Trump does approve the extension, it’s unknown what will happen once it expires. There is no precedent for banning a social media platform in the U.S. Additionally, ByteDance has publicly implied it does not intend to sell the app.
