(Reuters): A rule ordering TikTok to shut down due to national security concerns will go into effect on Sunday. TikTok stopped operating in the US on Saturday night and was taken down from the Google and Apple app stores. This bill passed by Congress will give the next Trump government the authority to either encourage or prohibit the sale of apps controlled by Chinese companies, such as TikTok.
TikTok notified users that its app was no longer available, citing the enactment of the law as justification. Additionally, the warning mentioned that President Trump had said he would likely provide a 90-day exemption from the ban once he took office. It is hoped that the app would be revived by the incoming administration.
The social media business, the millions of Americans who rely on TikTok for cultural and economic reasons, and internal politics in the United States are all expected to be significantly impacted by this historic closing of the app, which is owned by China's ByteDance. The United States had never before imposed such a ban on a major social media network.
Apart from TikTok, other ByteDance-owned applications were also removed from U.S. app stores, including the lifestyle app Lemon8 and the video editing app CapCut. Although it was unclear if some American users could still access TikTok after the closure, many users saw a notice indicating that the program was no longer available.
Trump stated in an interview that he thought it was the right time to announce the 90-day extension, and he would probably do it on Monday. Congress passed a measure that gives the Trump administration broad control over Chinese-owned applications, allowing them to be either blocked or sold.
TikTok had threatened to shut down the app unless the Biden administration assured firms like Apple and Google that they would not be subject to enforcement actions when the law took effect. In reaction to the impending deadline of Sunday, when the app would have to either cut its connections with its Chinese parent business or stop operating in the United States, TikTok went down on Saturday.
After Trump entered office, the White House thought the problem should be handled by the next government, according to Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. The U.S. government was accused of using unjust state authority to censor TikTok, and the Chinese embassy in Washington denounced the acts and promised to defend China's interests.
With increasing doubts about TikTok's future, many users—particularly younger ones—started looking for other sites, such as RedNote, a rival with headquarters in China. In the meantime, anticipation that competing social media firms like Meta and Snap would see an increase in users and ad income as a result of the TikTok ban caused their stock values to climb.
TikTok users had an emotional response to the shutdown, with many expressing their shock and frustration at the platform's sudden end. One user wrote on RedNote after identifying as a "tiktokrefugee," classifying the post as "sad."
Users expressed their dissatisfaction on X (previously Twitter) minutes after the app went offline. "I had no idea that they would cut off TikTok," one user bemoaned. I miss the friends I made there, and I'm depressed right now." Others said they hoped the app would come back soon.
Many customers tried to get around the ban after the closure, which caused technical issues for VPN services like NordVPN. The spike in "VPN" searches suggested that people were looking for ways to keep using TikTok in spite of the closure.
Since many Instagram users had made purchases via the app's e-commerce platform, customers started to worry about their purchases from the TikTok Shop as well. Since marketing companies had grown increasingly dependent on TikTok for their advertising, they hurried to create backup plans in case of the ban. According to one marketing executive, it was a "hair on fire" moment.
Trump's claims that he was looking for a "political resolution" to the problem stoked expectations that TikTok would make a comeback during his presidency. Trump had already requested that the Supreme Court halt the ban's enforcement, and Shou Zi Chew, the CEO of TikTok, was scheduled to go with Trump to a rally and the US president's inauguration.
Since the suspension, a number of individuals have shown interest in purchasing TikTok's U.S. operations, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk and former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt. TikTok denied any discussions over the sale of the U.S. arm to Musk, despite reports that Beijing had addressed the topic.
Furthermore, a firm called Perplexity AI extended an offer to ByteDance to combine with TikTok U.S. and create a new business by collaborating with other partners. Forty percent of ByteDance is owned by its founders and employees, while the remaining sixty percent is owned by major investors like General Atlantic and BlackRock.
The TikTok shutdown represents a major turning point in the ongoing geopolitical and technological struggle between the United States and China. The platform’s fate is now largely in the hands of the incoming administration, which will have to navigate both the national security concerns and the cultural significance TikTok holds in the U.S.
