BY OSABUOHIEN VIVIAN ROSE
TikTok went offline in the United States Saturday night, less than two hours before a ban was slated to go into effect. The extraordinary blackout prevents access to one of the world’s most popular social media apps, an app that is been used by 170 million Americans.
Visitors to the app were met with a message reading: “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.”
TikTok’s action comes after the Supreme Court on Friday upheld a ban that was passed with broad bipartisan support in Congress and signed into law in April by President Joe Biden. The law prevents American companies from hosting or serving content for the Chinese-owned social media platform unless it sells itself to a buyer from the United States or one of its allies.
But TikTok may not be gone for long. The company suggested it could be back soon, maybe by Monday.
“We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office,” the company posted in its pop-up message to users who opened the app beginning late Saturday night. “Please stay tuned!”
President-elect Trump said he will “most likely” delay a ban on TikTok for 90 days after he takes office on Monday, adding that he has not made a final decision in a phone interview with NBC News on Saturday.
“I think that would be, certainly, an option that we look at. 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,” Trump said in the interview.
“If I decide to do that, I’ll probably announce it on Monday,” he added.
Although, the app’s disappearance has been five years in the making. Donald Trump first proposed a ban on TikTok in mid-2020 via executive order, which did not succeed.
Various members of Congress proposed measures that would do the same, only one passed. The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act became law, mandating TikTok be sold or be banned.
The app also has disappeared from Apple’s App Store and the Google Play store. And other apps owned by TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance – including CapCut – also displayed a similar message Saturday night.
Lawmakers said TikTok’s ties to China and its access to reams of data posed a threat to national security.
Many US users have said they were bracing for an end to the app, including influencers and other small businesses that said they depended on the platform for a living. Still, they said, they held out hope the app would somehow be saved.
But the Supreme Court’s decision dashed hopes of a last-second judicial assist.
Some of the companies that operate app stores and run computer servers are said to be concerned that they will be held liable for violating terms of the ban. Those service providers pledged to stop carrying the app to avoid legal consequences, a person familiar with companies’ discussions told CNN.
TikTok’s CEO Shou Chew has met with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago home in the weeks leading up to the ban taking effect and is expected to attend Trump’s inauguration on Monday.
TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment late on Saturday.
The law passed last year allows the president to delay the ban from going into effect by 90 days but requires evidence that parties working to arrange a sale of TikTok to a US-owned company have made significant progress.
But TikTok’s owner, ByteDance, has rejected would-be buyers. The company has cited its popularity among American users, and its value to small businesses across the country, as it fights to stay online without any change in ownership.
After the Supreme Court ruled, 9-0, to uphold the ban, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre signaled the administration wouldn’t enforce the law on Biden’s final day in office.
Due to the federal holiday weekend and the inauguration, “actions to implement the law simply must fall to the next administration,” she said.
But TikTok wasn’t satisfied by that statement. According to a person familiar with the matter, some service providers — companies like Google and Apple that would face exorbitant fines for allowing US access to TikTok once the ban takes effect — told TikTok they believed they were vulnerable under the law starting Sunday.
TikTok employees were also told by the company on Saturday that the situation was “disappointing” but that the company was working on a solution.
“We know this is disappointing for you not only as employees, but as users. However, 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 know our teams are working tirelessly to bring our app back to the U.S. as soon as possible,” read the message to employees.
A White House source reiterated to CNN that there will not be any fines by the Biden administration associated with keeping TikTok active on Sunday.
At the same time, however, some Biden officials are content with TikTok going dark for a day, since the law was passed with strong support from both parties.
The decision “is going to be made by the next president anyway,” Biden told reporters Friday.
TikTok’s final minute
On Saturday, the White House called TikTok’s warning about going dark a “stunt.”
“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,” Jean-Pierre said. “We have laid out our position clearly and straightforwardly: actions to implement this law will fall to the next administration. So TikTok and other companies should take up any concerns with them.”
A TikTok spokesperson had no immediate reaction to the statement from the White House.
The company said it expected service providers — like companies that operate servers full of videos — to restrict access to the app at 12:01 a.m. ET on Sunday.
On Apple and Google’s app stores, the most popular free apps for the past week have been TikTok-like apps, including two that are also owned by Chinese companies. One of them, photo-sharing app Lemon8, is owned by ByteDance, just like TikTok. But Lemon8 may have the same fate as TikTok in the future.
Given Trump’s public remarks about TikTok any blackout may not last long.
Trump is said to be considering issuing an executive order that could effectively pause the ban and provide some time to sort out a long-term solution.
But he will face pressure from multiple directions. Some Republican senators, like Josh Hawley of Missouri and Tom Cotton of Arkansas, remain strongly supportive of the ban.
“ByteDance and its Chinese Communist masters had nine months to sell TikTok before the Sunday deadline,” Cotton wrote on X. “The very fact that Communist China refuses to permit its sale reveals exactly what TikTok is: a communist spy app”.
On Saturday, Perplexity AI, a San Francisco-based AI search-engine startup that it submitted a bid to ByteDance to merge with TikTok
