Late Saturday evening (January 18), TikTok disappeared from Apple and Google app stores, just as a federal ban on the popular platform took effect. By 10:50 PM EST, users found the app unavailable, in a significant blow to its China-based parent company ByteDance.
The ban stems from a law signed by President Joe Biden last year, mandating ByteDance to divest its stake in TikTok’s US operations within nine months or face prohibition. Despite legal challenges reaching the Supreme Court, ByteDance ultimately lost its bid to overturn the ruling.
A message on TikTok’s app acknowledged the development, stating, “We regret that a US law banning TikTok will take effect on January 19, forcing us to make our services temporarily unavailable. We’re working to restore access in the US as soon as possible and appreciate your support. Please stay tuned.”
As concerns over data security and foreign influence drove policymakers to act on TikTok, the netizens shared their reactions when the app went dark.
“Bro tiktok literally started glitching as i was saving videos and BOOM its gone,” one X user wrote.
Another user wrote, “The amount of times I’ve already clicked on the tiktok app only to be disappointed is actually embarrassing.” “Just got the “tiktok is banned” pop up, closed the app, then went back to it 3 seconds later out of habit. yeah i’m cooked,” quipped another.
“ITS GONE. It’s not even midnight. I still had over an hour of doomscrolling. I wasn’t ready,” an X user posted.
