(NEXSTAR) – TikTok blocked access to American users late Saturday night, just hours before a law banning the popular video-sharing platform was set to go into effect.
“A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now,” a message reads when American users open the app.
“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!”
As of 11 p.m. ET Saturday, TikTok appeared to be unavailable for new downloads on Apple’s App Store or Google’s Play Store – two of the most popular distributors for the video sharing platform.
It comes after days of speculation and confusion over the platform’s future.
Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban
The Supreme Court Friday decided to uphold a law that bans TikTok starting on Sunday, unless the social media app is sold off by its Chinese parent company.
Several parties have expressed interest in buying the popular platform, but the parent company ByteDance has repeatedly said it does not plan to sell.
But the app won’t suddenly disappear from your phone, and using it won’t land you in trouble with the law. If the ban on TikTok is allowed to play out, it’s more likely to look like a slow fade into obsolescence. New users won’t be able to download the app and updates won’t be available in app stores. Internet hosting services also will be prohibited from hosting TikTok.
That will eventually render the app unworkable, the Justice Department has said in court filings.
President Joe Biden says he doesn’t plan to enforce the law on Sunday, his last full day in office.
“Given the sheer fact of timing, this Administration recognizes that actions to implement the law simply must fall to the next Administration, which takes office on Monday,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.
Will Trump intervene?
Once he takes office, President-elect Donald Trump is reportedly considering using an executive order to keep TikTok around, despite the ban’s popularity with both parties in Congress.
The Trump transition team has not offered details on the record on how Trump plans to carry out his campaign pledge to “save TikTok.” But spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement in November that he plans to “deliver” on his promise.
After Trump takes office, it would fall on his Justice Department to enforce the law and punish any potential violators. On Wednesday, Pam Bondi, Trump’s pick for Attorney General, dodged a question during a Senate hearing on whether she’d uphold a TikTok ban.
Is anyone serious about buying TikTok to save it?
Frank McCourt, a billionaire businessman, real estate mogul and former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, recently announced his internet advocacy group had submitted a proposal to buy the social media site from ByteDance. Famed Shark Tank investor Kevin O’Leary has also joined the effort.
Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has also taken steps to purchase TikTok. Shortly after Congress passed the ban, Mnuchin told CNBC he had started creating an investor group that would purchase the popular social media company.
Several other names have been floated as possible buyers — Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast), who recently posted on social media about possibly pulling off such a deal, and former Blizzard-Activision CEO Bobby Kotick. Whether these buyers are serious and actively assembling a bid for the company, however, is not clear.
ByteDance, for its part, has remained firm that it does not plan to sell. Experts have also noted the Chinese government is unlikely to approve a sale that includes TikTok’s coveted algorithm.
Why are lawmakers concerned about TikTok?
The argument against TikTok in Congress has largely come down to national security. The U.S. has said it’s concerned about the app collecting vast swaths of user data, including sensitive information on viewing habits, that could fall into the hands of the Chinese government through coercion.
Officials have also warned the algorithm that fuels what users see on the app is vulnerable to manipulation by Chinese authorities, who can use it to shape content on the platform in a way that’s difficult to detect.
TikTok points out the U.S. has not presented evidence that China has attempted to manipulate content on its U.S. platform or gather American user data through TikTok.
NewsNation partner The Hill and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
