TikTok has officially been shut down in the United States following a unanimously U.S. Supreme Court ruling that upheld a law 'banning' the social media app.
Referred to as the "Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act", this section of H.R. 8038 aims to block any foreign adversary controlled application, not just TikTok. It was passed by the House on April 20, 2024 and by the Senate on April 23, 2024.
Users who open the app are greeted with the following message:
-- Sorry, TikTok isn't available right now 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! --
Notably, Apple has already removed TikTok from App Store in the United States, so it can no longer be downloaded.
In a recent social media post, President Trump commented on the Supreme Court's decision:
"The Supreme Court decision was expected, and everyone must respect it. My decision on TikTok will be made in the not too distant future, but I must have time to review the situation. Stay tuned!"
It's likely that after taking office on Monday, Trump will push for the sale of TikTok to a U.S. entity. Earlier today, Perplexity AI submitted a bid to TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, proposing the creation of a new merged entity combining Perplexity, TikTok U.S., and new capital partners, according to a CNBC report. This new structure would allow most of ByteDance's existing investors to retain their equity stakes while integrating more video content into Perplexity. It's possible Trump will issue a 90 day extension to permit ByteDance to make such a deal.