“Sorry, TikTok isn’t out there proper now,” the message learn.
Hours earlier than a federal regulation banning TikTok from america was set to take impact on Sunday, the Chinese language-owned social media app went darkish, and U.S. customers may not entry movies on the platform. As a substitute, the app greeted them with a message that stated “a regulation banning TikTok has been enacted.”
“We’re lucky that President Trump has indicated that he’ll work with us on an answer,” the message stated. “Please keep tuned!”
TikTok additionally appeared to have been faraway from Apple and Google’s U.S. app shops, some customers stated. As well as, TikTok’s sister app, Lemon8, stopped working and confirmed U.S. customers a message saying that it “isn’t out there proper now.” Each TikTok and Lemon8 are owned by ByteDance, a Chinese language web large.
TikTok turned unavailable after the Supreme Courtroom resolution on Friday upholding the regulation, which requires ByteDance to promote the app by Sunday or in any other case face a ban. The regulation was handed overwhelmingly by Congress final yr and signed by President Biden. TikTok, which has confronted nationwide safety considerations for its Chinese language ties, had believed it may win its authorized problem to the regulation, however failed.
The blackout capped a chaotic stretch for TikTok, which had made last-minute pleas to each the Biden administration and President-elect Donald J. Trump for a approach out of the regulation. Till Saturday night time, nobody — together with the U.S. authorities — was completely certain what would occur to it when the regulation took impact. The USA has by no means blocked an app utilized by tens of tens of millions of Individuals primarily in a single day.
The regulation has a provision to penalize app retailer operators like Apple and Google and web internet hosting corporations like Oracle for distributing or sustaining the TikTok app. Underneath the regulation, these corporations face penalties as excessive as $5,000 per consumer who can entry the app.
TikTok, Apple and Oracle didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark. Google declined to remark.
For TikTok and ByteDance, the developments are a significant blow. TikTok has roughly 170 million U.S. customers, who’re a number of the app’s most profitable clients. In authorized filings, TikTok has stated that even a brief disappearance may kneecap it, with customers and creators leaving for different platforms and by no means returning even when a ban was lifted.
The state of affairs was additional sophisticated by the regulation’s begin date falling within the closing days of Mr. Biden’s presidency. A White Home spokeswoman steered on Saturday that the Biden administration wouldn’t begin fining corporations on Sunday.
“We see no motive for TikTok or different corporations to take actions within the subsequent few days earlier than the Trump administration takes workplace on Monday,” Karine Jean-Pierre, the White Home press secretary, stated in a press release. “We’ve got laid out our place clearly and straightforwardly: actions to implement this regulation will fall to the following administration.”
Spokesmen for the White Home and the Division of Justice didn’t reply to requests for remark after TikTok went offline.
Mr. Trump stated on Saturday he would “most probably” discover a solution to give TikTok a 90-day extension as soon as he takes workplace on Monday. The regulation provides the president the flexibility to increase the deadline for a sale provided that there’s “important progress” towards a deal that may put TikTok within the fingers of a non-Chinese language proprietor. It was not clear how that extension may work if the ban had already taken impact.
Mr. Trump has additionally indicated he may signal an govt order to avoid the ban of the app. TikTok’s chief govt, Shou Chew, is anticipated to attend Mr. Trump’s inauguration on Monday.
On Saturday, the temper on TikTok was somber. Alix Earle, a content material creator with 7.2 million followers who rose to fame on the app in 2022, posted tearful movies mourning the platform.
“I really feel like I’m going By way of heartbreak,” Ms. Earle wrote in one video. “This platform is greater than an app or a job to me. I’ve so many Recollections on right here. I’ve posted daily for the previous 6 years of my life. I’ve shared my associates, household, relationships, private struggles, secrets and techniques.”
Different customers spent their closing moments on the app recreating viral dances. The “For You” web page full of montages of customers’ favourite tendencies and songs, many courting again to the early days of the pandemic, when the app soared in reputation.
By 9 p.m. Jap on Saturday night time, TikTok was exhibiting U.S. customers a pop up message that stated the app would quickly cease working.
It stated the regulation would “drive us to make our providers briefly unavailable.” Shortly thereafter, TikTok went darkish.
Late Saturday night, Ms. Earle discovered solace by showing on a rival social media platform: Instagram.
“I used to be simply not anticipating that for this Saturday night time,” she stated of what occurred to TikTok as she livestreamed on Instagram. RedNote, a Chinese language video app that has turn out to be common in current days, wouldn’t turn out to be a long-term substitute, she stated.
“We’re simply gonna should make it a little bit extra enjoyable on right here, that’s what I’m considering,” she stated of Instagram.
On Sunday morning in China, TikTok’s notification to U.S. customers that it might droop service was a trending matter on Weibo, a well-liked social media platform much like X.
“It is a darkish second within the growth of the web,” Hu Xijin, a former editor in chief of the state-run International Occasions, wrote on Weibo. The USA had set an instance for “the complete Western world” to silence voices on-line within the identify of nationwide safety, he wrote.
Diao Daming, a professor of worldwide relations at Renmin College of China, referred to as TikTok “the primary large check that Trump 2.0 has to face.” Mr. Trump’s actions on TikTok may check his relationship with “China hawks” in Washington, Mr. Diao wrote in a commentary printed on state media.
Claire Fu contributed reporting from Seoul. Nico Grant and Tripp Mickle contributed reporting from San Francisco. David McCabe contributed reporting from Washington.
