According to Reuters, President-elect Donald Trump said he would "most likely" give TikTok a 90-day reprieve from the ban after he takes office on Monday, a promise TikTok cited in a notice posted to users on the app.
"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," the message notified users trying to use the app late on Saturday night.
Even if temporary, the unprecedented shutdown of TikTok, owned by China s ByteDance, is set to have a wide-ranging impact on U.S.-China relations, U.S. domestic politics, the social media marketplace and millions of Americans who depend on the app economically and culturally.
Other apps owned by ByteDance, including video editing app CapCut and lifestyle social app Lemon8, were also offline and unavailable in U.S. app stores as of late Saturday.
TikTok, which has captivated nearly half of all Americans, powered small businesses and shaped online culture, warned on Friday it would go dark in the U.S. on Sunday unless President Joe Biden s administration provided assurances to companies such as Apple and Google that they will not face enforcement actions when a ban takes effect.
MOVE TO ALTERNATIVES
Under the law passed last year and upheld on Friday by a unanimous Supreme Court, the platform had until Sunday to cut ties with its China-based parent or shut down its U.S. operation to resolve concerns it poses a threat to national security.
Biden s White House reiterated on Saturday that it was up to the incoming administration to take action.
"We see no reason for TikTok or other companies to take actions in the next few days before the Trump administration takes office on Monday," press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.
The Chinese embassy in Washington on Friday accused the U.S. of using unfair state power to suppress TikTok.
Uncertainty over the app s future had sent users - mostly younger people - scrambling to alternatives including China-based RedNote. Rivals Meta and Snap have seen their share prices rise this month ahead of the ban, as investors bet on an influx of users and advertising dollars.
HAIR ON FIRE MOMENT
NordVPN, a popular virtual private network, or VPN, allowing users to access the internet from servers around the world, said it was "experiencing temporary technical difficulties."
Web searches for "VPN" spiked in the minutes after U.S. users lost access to TikTok, according to Google Trends.
Users on Instagram fretted about whether they would still receive merchandise they had bought on TikTok Shop, the video platform s e-commerce arm.
Marketing firms reliant on TikTok have rushed to prepare contingency plans in what one executive described as a "hair on fire" moment after months of conventional wisdom saying that a solution would materialize to keep the app running.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew plans to attend the U.S. presidential inauguration and attend a rally with Trump on Sunday, a source told Reuters.
Suitors including former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt have expressed interest in the fast-growing business that analysts estimate could be worth as much as $50 billion. Media reports say Beijing has also held talks about selling TikTok s U.S. operations to billionaire and Trump ally Elon Musk, though the company has denied that.
