TikTok goes dark across US
A person holds an iPhone with a message on their TikTok app in Georgia, US © ERIK S LESSER/EPA-EFE/ShutterstockRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
TikTok has gone dark for its 170mn US users, as a law requiring its Chinese parent company ByteDance to either sell its stake in the app or face a ban came into effect overnight.
In a pop-up that appeared on the short-form video app before a midnight deadline, the company wrote: “A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the US. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now.”
It added: “We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned!”
TikTok’s video feed was otherwise inaccessible to users in the US, one of its biggest markets. The app was also no longer appearing in the Apple and Google app stores.
Other apps owned by ByteDance, including video editing app CapCut and social media app Lemon8, displayed similar messages and were also unavailable in the app stores.
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On Friday, the US Supreme Court upheld a law passed by Congress last year that requires ByteDance to sell the platform or face a nationwide ban on Sunday, spurred by concerns the platform could be wielded by Beijing for espionage or to spread propaganda. TikTok has denied that the Chinese government has any influence over the app.
On Saturday, president-elect Donald Trump said that he would “most likely” issue a 90-day extension to the deadline when he enters the White House on Monday.
However, from midnight companies such as Apple, Google and Oracle were banned from providing services to distribute or host the video app, or face fines of $5,000 per user. With the app now dark, this indicates that they decided that the risks associated with violating the law between the midnight deadline and Trump’s inauguration on Monday were too high. Apple, Google and Oracle did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Late on Friday, TikTok said that statements from the White House as well as from the Department of Justice had “failed to provide the necessary clarity and assurance to the service providers that are integral to maintaining TikTok’s availability” in the US, and that without “a definitive statement to satisfy the most critical service providers assuring non-enforcement, TikTok would be forced to go dark on January 19”.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Saturday said in a statement there was “no reason for TikTok or other companies to take actions in the next few days before the Trump administration takes office on Monday”.
The shutdown caps a week in which TikTok and ByteDance executives have tried to hash out a plan to avoid closure, according to several people familiar with the matter.
On Friday, Trump said he had spoken to President Xi Jinping and discussed TikTok with the Chinese leader. Chinese state media said the two leaders had spoken but did not specify if TikTok was part of the conversation.
TikTok has said that a spin-off was not technologically feasible in the timeframe, while Beijing has previously indicated that it would oppose any sale.
Instead, the company had pinned its hopes on Trump, who during his campaign promised to “save” TikTok. The president-elect’s interest in the app comes in part after he used the platform during last year’s election campaign to engage with young voters.
The uncertainty has prompted influencers to mourn the loss of the app and direct their followers to rivals such as Meta’s Instagram. It also spurred chaos inside the company itself. In the days leading up to the ban, the company rushed to reassure US staff that they would still have jobs and continue to be paid even if the app was shut down, according to three people with knowledge of the situation.
Meanwhile, marketers are diverting advertising spending away from the platform. One media buyer said that they had paused all their spending on the platform in the US. However, TikTok was still encouraging them to spend their budget on the platform in other markets, the person said.
“It’s very messy and while people are not surprised, it was really impossible to plan for,” said the head of another big advertising agency.
Additional reporting by Zijing Wu in Hong Kong
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