TikTok Goes Dark in the US, for Now

TikTok is no longer working for most users in America, though the pause may be a brief one. Chinese parent company ByteDance began shuttering the app at 10:30pm Saturday to comply with a Supreme Court ruling on Friday, reports USA Today. Those who attempt to use the app are instead greeted by a message:

• "Sorry, TikTok isn't available right now," it reads. "A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can't use TikTok for now. 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!"

• Trump has indeed suggested that he will give TikTok at least a 90-day reprieve once he is sworn into office on Monday. He even used the same "stay tuned!" language before that. It was Trump who began the push to ban TikTok in his first term, notes the Wall Street Journal, and President Biden signed the law into effect last April.
• The US ordered the app closed because of national security concerns given its Chinese ownership. As the New York Times reports, this is the first time the government has "blocked an app used by tens of millions of Americans essentially overnight."
• The app has roughly 170 million users in the US, and the mood was glum Saturday night. "It's like summer camp is over and we will never see our camp friends again," read one typical comment on a popular video, per USA Today. "I'm literally best friends with a whole bunch of strangers and I'm gonna miss all of you so damn much," wrote another.

(More TikTok stories.)