TikTok has been officially banned in the U.S., rendering the app inaccessible to users within the country. Attempts to access TikTok now result in a message stating, "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! In the meantime, you can still download your data."
Despite a final appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, the ban was upheld. While acknowledging TikTok's popularity and expressive capabilities for over 170 million Americans, the court affirmed Congress's determination that divestiture was necessary to address national security concerns related to data collection practices and TikTok's relationship with a foreign adversary. The court concluded that the ban doesn't violate First Amendment rights.
TikTok expresses hope for reinstatement by Donald Trump after his inauguration on January 20th, but confirmation remains pending. Trump hinted at a potential 90-day delay in a January 18th interview with NBC News, suggesting a window for a U.S. or allied entity to acquire the app. This acquisition failure directly led to the ban. Consequently, other apps linked to ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, including CapCut, Lemon8, and even Marvel Snap, have also become unavailable.
