TikTok Goes Dark in the U.S.
Lawmakers got what they voted for.
TikTok is gone—at least for now.
The social media site with more than 170 million American users that has spawned untold numbers of viral videos and drawn the federal government's ire for its possible connections to the Chinese government went dark on Saturday night—just a few hours before a federal law banning the site was scheduled to take effect.
"Sorry, TikTok isn't available right now," the message that greeted users reads. "A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can't use TikTok for now."
The app seems to have been removed from app stores run by Apple and Google. The app's swift disappearance comes at the end of a wild week that saw the U.S. Supreme Court reject TikTok's last-ditch effort to avoid the federal ban, even as some lawmakers who voted for the ban and the Biden administation seemed to back away from the idea of enforcing it.
That ban was passed in April with bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress and signed by President Joe Biden. President-elect Donald Trump has given mixed signals about how he'd approach the ban. His previous administration actually kicked off the effort to ban TikTok, but he recently said he'd prefer a 90-day extension before the ban goes into effect. (Check out reporting from Reason's Emma Camp and Robby Soave for more detail on what may have been TikTok's final days in the U.S.)
In its message to users on Saturday night, TikTok seemingly indicated that the changeover in administrations might change the app's fate. "We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office," the message read. "Stay tuned."
Regardless of what happens next, the TikTok ban remains a disturbing development that expands federal power to attack free speech—and a worrying precedent that could allow the government to target other platforms over similarly vague concerns about national security. It's a dark day for free expression; not just on the popular dance-video app.
