TikTok Stops Working in the US After Supreme Court Ruling
TikTok is no longer available in the US after the Supreme Court rejected a final legal appeal from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance. The company tried to challenge a new law banning the app, but the court ruled that the ban did not violate the First Amendment rights of TikTok or its 170 million American users.
Before the ban took effect on Sunday, TikTok went offline in the US. A message now appears for users saying they “can’t use TikTok for now.”
However, the question remains: will this ban stop Americans from using TikTok permanently?
The White House explained that the task of enforcing the ban would fall to Donald Trump, who is set to be sworn in as president on Monday, just a day after the ban began. Interestingly, President-elect Trump has suggested that he may consider giving TikTok another chance.
Trump Considers Giving TikTok Extra Time Before Ban
On Saturday, Donald Trump said he might give TikTok a 90-day extension before the ban takes full effect. Speaking to NBC News, he said an official announcement would likely come on Monday.
Despite this, TikTok stopped working for US users just hours before the ban started. A message on the app said, “We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office.“
On Friday, before the Supreme Court ruling, Trump mentioned that he had spoken with Chinese President Xi Jinping about TikTok and other trade issues. He expressed optimism, saying on social media, “I expect we will solve many problems together, starting immediately.”
Mike Waltz, Trump’s incoming national security advisor, told Fox News that the president-elect was exploring ways to keep TikTok available. He assured Americans their access to TikTok and their data would remain safe, saying, “We’re working on a deal to make this happen.”
The Biden administration has made it clear they won’t enforce the ban. Another option for Trump could be to let the law stay in place but instruct the Department of Justice (DoJ) to ignore it.
This would mean telling Apple and Google they won’t face consequences for keeping TikTok available on their app stores. However, these companies might hesitate to break the law, even with such assurances, as they’d be relying solely on the president’s word to avoid penalties.
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