TikTok goes offline in the US hours before ban due to come in

TikTok has gone offline in the US, hours before a new law banning the platform was due to come into effect.

A message appearing on the app for US users said a law banning TikTok had been enacted, meaning “you can’t use TikTok for now”.

The video-sharing app was banned over concerns about its links to the Chinese government and had been given a deadline of January 19to be sold to an approved US buyer.

President Joe Biden had said he would leave the issue to his successor, Donald Trump. Trump has said he will “most likely” give TikTok a 90-day reprieve from a ban once he takes office on Monday.

“The 90-day extension is something that will be most likely done, because it’s appropriate,” Trump told NBC News on Saturday.

“If I decide to do that, I’ll probably announce it on Monday.”

Users reported the app had also been removed from both Apple and Google’s US app stores and TikTok.com was not showing videos.

“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 displayed after the ban went into force read.

The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the law, passed in April last year, banning the app in the US unless its China-based parent company, ByteDance, sold the platform by Sunday, which it has not done.

TikTok has argued that the law violates free speech protections for its 170 million users in the country.

After the ruling, TikTok’s chief executive, Shou Zi Chew, appealed to Trump, thanking him for his “commitment to work with us to find a solution.”

Chew is expected to attend Trump’s inauguration on Monday.

In the hours leading up to the social media platform going offline, content creators had been posting videos to say goodbye to their followers.

Creator Nicole Bloomgarden told the BBC that not being on TikTok would result in a significant salary cut.

Another user, Erika Thompson, said educational content on the platform would be the “biggest loss” for the community.

TikTok users were met with a message earlier on Saturday that said the law would “force us to make our services temporarily unavailable. We’re working to restore our service in the U.S. as soon as possible.”

Meanwhile, a government minister told the BBC on Sunday that the UK had no plans to ban TikTok.

“We won’t be following the same path as the Americans unless or until… there is a threat that we are concerned about in the British interest, and then of course we will keep it under review,” Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones said.

The app was banned from the UK Parliament and government devices in 2023 over security concerns.

But Jones told Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that “for consumers who want to post videos of their cats dancing, that doesn’t seem like a security threat to me”.

SOURCE: BBC News