TikTok is down for its 170 million users in the United States after the company voluntarily removed itself from Apple and Google’s app stores. Users can no longer download TikTok to their devices, and those with the video-sharing app were prompted on Saturday night with a message saying “you can’t use TikTok for now.”
“There is no doubt that, for more than 170 million Americans, TikTok offers a distinctive and expansive outlet for expression, means of engagement and source of community,” the court said in its ruling. “But Congress has determined that divestiture is necessary to address its well-supported national security concerns regarding TikTok’s data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary.”
The action by the U.S. government, which gained momentum during the first Trump administration and fell to President Joe Biden to sign into law, was born out of a fear that ownership by the Chinese-based ByteDance posed a national security risk for Americans. But in the days before the law was to take effect, both Biden and Trump kicked the can on taking action to prevent the shutdown.
“We have laid out our position clearly and straightforwardly: actions to implement this law will fall to the next administration,” Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said last week. The administration said it would fall on the incoming president to make the next move. In response, TikTok made clear that the app would go dark if the government didn’t intervene.
In his own statement last week, President Trump said he would negotiate the situation when he arrives to office on Monday, though how he would do so remains unclear. An internal memo issued at TikTok, viewed by The Verge, suggested that there’s hope for action and “that teams are working tirelessly to bring our app back to the U.S. as soon as possible.”
Meanwhile, many TikTok users have already found their next platform. In the lead up to the shutdown, media apps RedNote and Lemon8, both saw a surge in new users.
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