TikTok goes dark in the US

TikTok's app was removed from prominent app stores on Saturday evening, 18 January, just before a federal law that bans the popular social media platform went into effect.

By 10:50 p.m. US Eastern Standard Time, the app came to be ‘not found’ on Apple and Google app stores, which are prohibited from offering the platform under a law that requires TikTok’s China-based parent company, ByteDance, to sell the platform or face a US ban.

When users opened the TikTok app on Saturday evening, they encountered a pop-up message from the company that prevented them from scrolling on videos.

“A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the US,” the message said. “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,” the message said. “Please stay tuned!”

President-elect Donald Trump had said on Saturday, 18 January, that he “most likely” would give TikTok 90 more days to work out a deal that would allow the popular video-sharing platform to avoid a US ban.

Trump said in an NBC News interview that he had not decided what to do but was considering granting TikTok a reprieve after he is sworn into office on Monday, 20 January.

Under the law passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden in 2024, TikTok's China-based parent company had nine months to sell the platform's US operation to an approved buyer. The law allows the sitting president to grant an extension if a sale is in progress.

“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,” Trump told ‘Meet the Press’ moderator Kristen Welker in a phone interview. "We have to look at it carefully. It's a very big situation.

“If I decide to do that, I'll probably announce it on Monday,” he said.

Both White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco made clear on Friday, 17 January, that the Biden administration would leave the law's implementation to Trump given that his inauguration falls the day after the ban takes effect.

In a statement later on Friday, TikTok asked for “a definitive statement” saying the Biden administration would not enforce the law or try to fine app store operators such Apple and Google and other US companies if they don't stop making TikTok available Sunday.

Without those assurances, TikTok said it “will be forced to go dark”.

The White House on Saturday called TikTok's statement “a stunt”.

“We see no reason for TikTok or other companies to take action 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.”

Apple and Google, as well as Oracle, which hosts TikTok's data on its servers, had not responded to questions about what they plan to do on Sunday.