Users who logged into TikTok Saturday night were greeted by a pop-up message about the ban taking effect.
WASHINGTON — TikTok has “gone dark” in the U.S. just before a ban on the popular video-sharing platform was scheduled to go into effect on Sunday.
Around 10:30 p.m. Eastern, users who tried to open the app were shown a message that TikTok “isn’t available right now” in the United States.
A new rule has been put in place in the U.S., meaning that TikTok is no longer allowed to be used. An alert message popped up, informing users and preventing them from watching videos on the platform. However, there is hope as President Trump has mentioned collaborating to find a solution to bring back TikTok after he assumes office.
Prior to the ban being enforced, TikTok started notifying its users that the app would be temporarily unavailable as the deadline approached. The pressure intensified as the clock ticked closer to the designated time.
Why isn’t TikTok working?
The Supreme Court on Friday unanimously upheld the federal law banning TikTok unless it’s sold by its China-based parent company.
Last year, a law passed by Congress and signed by President Biden required ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, to sell off the platform by January 19, just a day before the presidential inauguration.
While Biden’s administration has signaled it wasn’t going to enforce the law on his last full day in office, TikTok had said it needed more “clarity and assurance to the service providers that are integral to maintaining TikTok’s availability to over 170 million Americans.”
The company said Friday it would otherwise “be forced to go dark on January 19.”
By 10:50pm Eastern on Saturday, the app was not found on Apple and Google’s app stores, which are prohibited from offering the platform under the law.
When is TikTok coming back?
President-elect Donald Trump said Saturday he “most likely” will give TikTok 90 more days to work out a deal that would allow the platform to avoid a U.S. ban.
The earliest Trump could do anything would be Monday afternoon, once he takes office. The law allows the sitting president to extend the deadline by 90 days if a sale is in progress. However, there’s been no indication a sale is being considered.
ByteDance previously said it would not sell, but TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is expected to attend Trump’s inauguration with a prime seating location.
What will happen to TikTok when it’s banned?
Experts had said the way the law was written, current TikTok users should have been able to continue to have access to the app but wouldn’t receive updates, eventually making it unworkable.
However, the company said its platform will go dark and appears to have gone ahead with that threat Saturday night.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
