In a new notification sent to users, TikTok has confirmed that it is shutting down in the United States. With the help of incoming President Trump, the company stated that it is working to “restore” its services in the U.S. “as quickly as possible.”
Apple has also removed TikTok from the U.S. App Store, and Google has removed it from the Play Store.
CapCut, the popular video editing app owned by ByteDance, is also now offline in the United States and has been removed from the App Store.
TikTok Ban Officially Takes Effect
Below is the full text of the first notification sent to TikTok users around 9 PM ET:
Important Update from TikTok
We regret to inform you that the U.S. law banning TikTok will take effect on January 19, and it will force us to make our services unavailable temporarily.
We are working to restore our service in the U.S. as soon as possible, and we appreciate your support. Please stay tuned.
At 10:30 PM ET, TikTok officially went offline in the U.S. When you open the app, you will see the following message:
A law banning TikTok in the U.S. has been enacted. Unfortunately, this means you cannot use TikTok right now.
We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated he will work with us to resume TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned!
The decision to Shut Down
The shutdown decision came after TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, failed to bypass a U.S. law that required it to sell the app or face federal restrictions. ByteDance was given nine months to shut down TikTok, with the deadline officially expiring at midnight tonight. TikTok took its case to the U.S. Supreme Court, which upheld the law on Friday.
Can Trump Save TikTok?
There’s a lot of political context involved here as well. The ban is set to take effect on January 19, which is the last full day of President Biden’s term. On Monday, President Trump will officially take office. The Biden administration largely passed the responsibility of enforcing the law to the Trump administration, but the law will technically still go into effect from Sunday.
He says he is considering the possibility of a 90-day extension for TikTok, even though he says it is “most likely not” going to happen: “I perceive it will probably be one of the alternatives we look at,” in today’s NBC interview. A 90-day extension is something most likely to happen because it’s fair. You know, it’s fair. We’ll have to look at it carefully. It’s a very big situation,” Trump said in a phone interview. “If I decide to do it, I’ll probably announce it on Monday.”
In an internal memo sent out on Saturday night (acquired by The Verge), TikTok reassured its employees about the future of the app under Trump:
“We know this is frustrating for you, both as employees and users. However, we are fortunate that President Trump has indicated he will work with us to find a solution to resume TikTok once he takes office. Please know that our teams are working tirelessly to bring our app back to the U.S. as soon as possible.”
If Trump follows through, TikTok could return to the U.S. for at least 90 more days starting Monday. However, what happens after that remains to be seen. Trump was a supporter of banning TikTok during his first term, and the law, which is set to take effect tomorrow, had broad bipartisan support when it was passed last year.
