TikTok sends out messages to U.S. subscribers, praises Trump, and then shuts down
TikTok is down in the U.S. where it has been erased from Apple and Google's app storefronts, the App Store, and Play Store respectively. Earlier this evening, TikTok users saw a message when opening the app that said the app would be "temporarily unavailable" in the U.S. In this message, TikTok said that it was working to restore the service in the states as soon as possible and ended the message by saying, "Please stay tuned."
A second message, titled "Sorry, TikTok isn't available right now," stated that a law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. "Unfortunately that means you can't use TikTok for now." This message went on to say, "We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us in a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned!" Trump will become president once again when he is inaugurated on Monday.
TikTok goes dark on Saturday night. | Image credit-PhoneArena
Earlier Saturday, President-elect Trump said that he will "most likely" give TikTok a 90-day extension giving it more time to find a U.S.-based buyer. A law signed by President Joe Biden back in April gave TikTok until January 19th to find a buyer based in the United States who would take the popular short-form video app out of the hands of Chinese company ByteDance. U.S. lawmakers fear that ByteDance is collecting personal data belonging to TikTok users including the data belonging to children and teen users. Another worry is that U.S. children are getting brainwashed by watching Chinese propaganda streamed on the site.
TikTok has over 170 million monthly users in the U.S.; during President-elect Trump's first term in office, he tried to force ByteDance to sell TikTok to a U.S. company, similar to what the Biden administration is doing now. In 2020, U.S. companies like Walmart, Microsoft, and Oracle were said to be interested in buying the app although no deal was ever made. Right now, in 2025, Elon Musk, believed to be worth over $450 billion and a close confident of Trump, would be considered the front runner to buy the app. Musk purchased Twitter in October 2022 for $44 billion.
While it would appear that Trump has gone from being a critic of TikTok to being a strong supporter of the site, in reality nothing has changed. Although the incoming president talks about being a TikTok star, he still wants the app out of the hands of a Chinese company like ByteDance and sold to an American person or firm just like he did in 2020.
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