TikTok’s app and website went dark in the US on Saturday night, just before a nationwide ban against the video-sharing platform took effect. The sudden shutdown occurred at 10:30 pm Eastern time, leaving users unable to access their profiles or saved favorites.
Major app store providers Apple and Google removed TikTok from their stores, making it unavailable for download. The app remains on devices, but is unusable, with a shadow of the last video watched in the background.
The ban was enacted after President Joe Biden signed a law requiring TikTok to divest from its Chinese parent company ByteDance or face a ban. The Supreme Court upheld the law earlier this week, ruling that Congress had “good reason” to single out TikTok for special treatment.
TikTok’s executives had planned to take the app offline on Sunday to highlight the impact of the restriction. However, AI search company Perplexity approached ByteDance with a proposal to merge the two companies, potentially allowing TikTok to continue operating in the US.
As users struggled to adjust to the new reality, many took to social media platforms like X and Threads to share their experiences and offer support. A community formed on Discord, where over 10,000 people joined to plan and commiserate about the loss of the app.
For some users, like Rachel Findlay, a 29-year-old art director in Los Angeles, the shutdown brought an unexpected sense of freedom. “I’m not going to get on Meta, I’ll just have some time for my own thoughts instead of doomscrolling each day,” she said.
Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/01/18/tiktok-shut-down-ban-us