Social video app TikTok has gone dark in the United States hours before a law requiring it to divest of its Chinese ownership went into effect today (1/19). Users attempting to access TikTok last night were met with a message reading, “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!”
In April, citing national security concerns, Congress passed a law banning TikTok unless its Chinese-based parent company, ByteDance, sold it to a non-Chinese entity. TikTok appealed on First Amendment grounds to the Supreme Court, which on Friday ruled that the law could indeed take effect.
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Trump wrote on social media this morning that when he is inaugurated tomorrow for another four years as President, he will “issue an Executive Order” to “extend the period of time before the law’s prohibitions take effect, so that we can make a deal to protect our national security.” He also confirmed the government would not penalize companies that “helped TikTok from going dark.”
However, Trump then implied TikTok’s fate could rest in whether the company agrees to the United States acquiring a “50% ownership position in a joint venture.”
This is a developing story.
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