TikTok is gone, at least for now. TikTok, the viral social popular platform where billions created and shared short videos, has officially become inaccessible to users in the United States as of Saturday evening. The app has released a statement addressing its users about the sudden shutdown, which was originally scheduled to take effect on Sunday.
Just before 11 p.m., users in the United States were greeted with a message that read: “Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now.” Beyond this notice, the platform was completely inaccessible to users. This came roughly an hour after the platform alerted users about the impending shutdown. The app’s fate will now hangs in balance.
TikTok Halts in US
“We regret that a U.S. law banning TikTok will take effect on January 19 and force us to make our services temporarily unavailable,” the viral social media platform said in a message sent to users earlier Saturday night.
“We’re working to restore our service in the U.S. as soon as possible, and we appreciate your support.”
YouTube Grab
Hours after the shutdown, the company updated its message to say: “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 also provided a link allowing users to log in and download their data.
Last year, Congress passed legislation requiring TikTok to be banned unless its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, sold its shares by Monday.
The Chinese tech giant, given nine months to sell TikTok’s U.S. operations to an approved buyer, consistently maintained that it would not sell. While U.S. officials stressed the app’s potential threat to national security, TikTok, along with some of its users and creators, filed lawsuits to challenge the ban.
In the days leading up to the platform’s shutdown this weekend, the Supreme Court upheld a prior appeals court decision, ruling that the ban did not infringe on the petitioners’ First Amendment rights.
Trump Is the Last Hope
The shutdown of the widely popular video-sharing platform led users to migrate to rival platform X, where they expressed their sorrow over its closure. “R.I.P TIKTOK,” one user posted with a heartbreak emoji.
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“TIKTOK IS OFFICIALLY dead,” another user posted with crying emojis.
The future of the app now lies with Trump, who will return to the White House on Monday and has promised to “save” the platform, which he credited for contributing to his victory in November.
Speaking to NBC News on Saturday, Trump said he would “most likely” grant TikTok a 90-day extension to finalize an agreement.
“We have to look at it carefully,” Trump said. “It’s a very big situation.”
The platform’s apparent demise marked the end of a months-long battle that began when Congress, with bipartisan support, moved to ban the app due to national security concerns. Despite the looming deadline, TikTok and ByteDance repeatedly insisted the platform was not for sale, while Chinese officials pledged to block any attempt at forced divestiture.
Under the law, Google and Apple are required to block new downloads of TikTok from their app stores or face fines of $5,000 per user. Oracle, which provides cloud services for TikTok, could also face legal consequences.
X
Technically, users who had already downloaded the app could continue using it temporarily, but without software updates or support, its functionality would steadily decline.
In one of his final actions last week, Biden chose to delay enforcing the law he had signed, leaving the decision to President-elect Trump.
TikTok said that it had no option but to shut down, blaming the Biden administration and the Department of Justice for failing to provide the necessary clarity and assurances to the service providers essential for keeping TikTok operational, ensuring they wouldn’t face penalties.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre dismissed TikTok’s decision to go offline as a “stunt.”
Meanwhile, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew profusely thanked the incoming president and hinted at a possible resolution in a video released shortly after the Supreme Court’s ruling on Friday.
“We are grateful and pleased to have the support of a president who truly understands our platform — one who has used TikTok to express his own thoughts and perspectives, connecting with the world and generating more than 60 billion views of his content in the process,” Chew said.
