The popular video sharing social network TikTok is officially here got dark in the United States, 2025, as the federal ban on the supplement takes effect on January 19, 2025.
“We regret that the US law banning TikTok will go into effect on January 19 and force us to make our services temporarily unavailable,” the company said in a statement. said in a pop-up message. “We are working to restore our service in the US as soon as possible, and we appreciate your support. Stay tuned.”
The immediate result of the ban means that existing users will no longer be able to access TikTok content, and new users will not be able to download the app from the official Android and iOS app stores. Other apps from parent company ByteDance, including CapCut, Lemon8 and Gauth, have become unavailable too.
The event comes just days after the US Supreme Court unanimously ruled to uphold a law requiring ByteDance to sell TikTok or face being effectively blocked in the country due to national security considerations and fears that its recommendation algorithm may be vulnerable to manipulation by Chinese authorities.
The court also noted that TikTok’s scale and vulnerability to surveillance by a foreign adversary, combined with the vast amounts of personal information it collects about users, merits “differential treatment” with respect to First Amendment rights.
“There is no question that for more than 170 million Americans, TikTok offers a distinctive and widespread opportunity for expression, a means of interaction, and a source of community,” the court ruled. wrote in his decision.
“But Congress decided that the takedown was necessary to address its well-founded national security concerns regarding TikTok’s data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary.”
After the ruling, the White House said TikTok must remain available to US users either under US ownership or under another entity that addresses national security concerns identified by Congress when drafting the law. The legislation was formal passed in April 2024.
The law was the culmination of a a perennial debate that Chinese ownership of TikTok increases the risk that data on American users may fall into Beijing’s hands or be used for propaganda. TikTok has repeatedly maintained that it operates independently of the government and has not received any requests for its data, while ByteDance has said it has no plans to divest from the business.
“Court ruling allows Justice Department to prevent Chinese government from using TikTok to undermine America’s national security” said Attorney General Garland. “Authoritarian regimes should not have unfettered access to the sensitive data of millions of Americans.”
In a statement, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) expressed its disappointment at the Supreme Court’s decision to lift the ban on TikTok, saying there are several ways America’s enemies can steal, scrape or buy the data of its citizens.
“Banning or mandating the sale of one social media app will do little to protect Americans’ data privacy — only comprehensive consumer privacy legislation can accomplish that goal,” the EFF said in a statement. said.
“Shutting down communication platforms or forcing them to reorganize based on concerns about foreign propaganda and anti-national manipulation is a uniquely anti-democratic tactic that the US has previously condemned around the world.”
However, there are signs that the program may be delayed. In a conversation with NBC News, the president-elect of the United States, Donald Trump said on Saturday, he is “likely” to extend the ban on TikTok for 90 days after taking office on Monday.
TikTok has faced similar issues in several countries, the most notable of which led to a complete ban in India in June 2020. Late last year, the Canadian government ordered TikTok is shutting down its operations in the country, citing risks to national security.
However, the TikTok ban has had results unintended consequence users switching to other Chinese alternatives such as RedNote (aka Xiaohongshu) rather than Instagram and YouTube, likely creating a fresh challenge for lawmakers concerned about foreign influence or interference via social media.
“I am concerned that Americans are flocking to a number of social media platforms owned by adversaries,” Virginia Senator Mark Warner said in a message on Bluesky. “We still need a comprehensive and risk-based approach to assessing and mitigating the risks of foreign-owned applications.”
