Home Money TikTok is not available in the US and has disappeared from app stores

TikTok is not available in the US and has disappeared from app stores

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TikTok is not available in the US and has disappeared from app stores

For the first time in Internet history, the US government has officially banned a major global social media platform, joining the ranks of authoritarian regimes like Russia and China. On Saturday, TikTok officially went dark. Users trying to access the app now receive a message saying “TikTok is currently unavailable.”

It’s the end result of legislation Congress passed last year that requires TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell the app’s U.S. operations or face a nationwide ban. But unlike countries that regularly censor the Internet, the United States does not have a centralized infrastructure to prevent Americans from accessing specific apps or websites.

Instead, the law puts pressure on Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their app stores, or risk racking up millions of dollars in fines. Both companies appeared to have removed TikTok and other apps owned by ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, as of Saturday. Google and Apple did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The law also prohibits companies from providing data hosting services to TikTok. Oracle, which reportedly counts TikTok as one of its largest cloud computing customers he began to tell the staff will shut down servers hosting US TikTok data on Saturday, according to The Information. Oracle did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In May, TikTok and a group of American creators appealed to block the law from taking effect, claiming it violated the First Amendment. The Supreme Court rejected those arguments in a unanimous ruling on Jan. 17, concluding that the provision was motivated by “well-founded national security concerns.”

“It’s a flagrant violation of the First Amendment,” says Evelyn Douek, a professor at Stanford Law School who specializes in online speech issues. “Unfortunately for me, all nine Supreme Court justices disagree, and almost everyone who matters is going to hear their opinion before mine. Still, it’s hard to take the national security rationale seriously when in recent days past and future presidents, as well as members of Congress, appear to be backtracking on whether a shutdown is necessary after all. immediate”.

With days left before the deadline, President Biden signaled that he would leave law enforcement to the incoming Trump administration. The move left the fate of the app in limbo. With two days left before the deadline, TikTok urged the Biden administration to provide definitive assurances that it would not enforce the law. In response, Biden’s team suggested that TikTok raise its concerns with Trump.

While some employees wondered if they would have a job in February, others continued with their usual activities. “Is anyone else’s manager still scheduling meetings next week about new upcoming projects without acknowledging the ban at all?” wrote one user on ByteDance-only Blind, an anonymous messaging app popular among tech workers. “I have 2025 strategy meetings next week,” another user responded. “I’m just doing what I’m told. It’s comforting in a way.”

President-elect Donald Trump attempted to ban TikTok during his first term, but later changed his stance after amassing a large following on the platform. Trump said on Saturday that he would “probably” issue an executive order on Monday giving TikTok a 90-day extension to the ban. “I think that would certainly be an option that we would consider,” he said in an interview with NBC News.

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