TikTok has been officially banned following a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to remove the app’s availability in the United States.
This comes after a Friday decision upholding a law forcing China-owned ByteDance to divest from TikTok by Sunday or face a ban from U.S. app stores.
BREAKING: Supreme Court Upholds TikTok Ban – Biden Won’t Enforce
President Trump previously asked the Supreme Court to pause the ban so his administration could be given “the opportunity to pursue a political resolution of the questions at issue in the case.”
Trump also said in an interview with NBC that he will “likely” give Tiktok a 90-day extension when he takes office.
Per NBC:
“I think that would be, certainly, an option that we look at. The 90-day extension is something that will be most likely done, because it’s appropriate. You know, it’s appropriate. We have to look at it carefully. It’s a very big situation,” Trump said in the phone interview.
“If I decide to do that, I’ll probably announce it on Monday,” he said.
However, on Saturday evening, a TikTok advisory read,
“Important update from TikTok
We regret that a U.S. law banning TikTok will take effect on January 19 and force us to make our services temporarily unavailable.
We’re working to restore our service in the U.S. as soon as possible, and we appreciate your support. Please stay tuned.”
It’s happening pic.twitter.com/yrMjeKSqJu
— E (@ElijahSchaffer) January 19, 2025
At approximately 10:30 pm EST, Tiktok announced its services had been terminated. No information was provided for when the app would be discontinued, but most users believed it to be at midnight. Users impacted by this ban may still download TikTok data here.
The latest TikTok notice advises:
“Sorry, TikTok Isn’t available right now
A law banning Tiktok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now. 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!”
This is a developing story.
