TikTok is no longer accessible to users in the U.S., the result of a controversial law forcing the popular platform offline unless it splits away from its China-based owner, ByteDance.
When users tried to open the app around 10:35 p.m. ET, a message appeared: “Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now,” it read. “A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now.”
The message then said President-elect Donald Trump has promised to “work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned!”
Around the same time, TikTok also stopped appearing on the Apple and Google Play app stores, preventing the app to be downloaded and cutting the app off from critical software updates.
It represents the first time in history the U.S. government has outlawed a widely popular social media network.
The TikTok ban could be short lived, however.
Early Sunday, Trump said he plans to issue an executive order on Monday to pause the ban to give TikTok time to distance itself from ByteDance. “I’m asking companies not to let TikTok stay dark!” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. “Americans deserve to see our exciting Inauguration on Monday, as well as other events and conversations.”
The day before, Trump had suggested he would “most likely” give a 90-day reprieve.
Yet it is unclear if it is too late for Trump to legally extend the ban’s start date. Such an extension is allowed under the law, though it does require a binding certification to Congress that steps toward divesting from ByteDance are in motion.
Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas said in a statement on Sunday that Trump does not have the power to pause the TikTok ban. “Now that the law has taken effect, there’s no legal basis for any kind of ‘extension,'” Cotton said, noting TikTok can only be restored when it has satisfied Congress’ requirement that it be divorced from Beijing.
The law, recently upheld by the Supreme Court, directed Apple and Google to remove the service from app stores. It also required web-hosting firms, including TikTok’s back-end cloud provider, Oracle, to stop supporting the app or face penalties that could reach into the billions of dollars.
Trump said in his post that he would provide a liability shield to any company that works with TikTok. But legal culpability was determined by Congress, and experts say Trump may need to call on lawmakers to amend the law in order for companies to be willing to support TikTok before it can be split off from ByteDance.
Trump also wrote that he would like a U.S. company or investors to have a 50% stake in TikTok, but he did not elaborate.
