TikTok blocked access to American users late Saturday night, just hours before a law banning the popular video-sharing platform was set to go into effect.
“A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now,” a message reads when American users open the app.
“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!”
As of 11 p.m. ET Saturday, TikTok appeared to be unavailable for new downloads on Apple’s App Store. It appeared to still be available on Google’s Play Store.
It comes after days of speculation and confusion over the platform’s future.
The Supreme Court on Friday unanimously upheld the divest-or-ban law, which gave TikTok’s China-based parent company ByteDance until Sunday to divest from the app.
The Biden administration said Friday that it did not plan to enforce the law and would instead leave its implementation to the incoming Trump administration.
Later in the day, TikTok clarified it planned to “go dark” until President Biden stepped in. The White House called TikTok’s statement a “stunt,” on Saturday, claiming the app did not have to take action before Trump is sworn in on Monday.
Trump said Saturday that he would most likely give TikTok a 90-day extension.
“The 90-day extension is something that will be most likely done, because it’s appropriate. You know, it’s appropriate. We have to look at it carefully,” Trump said in a call with “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker. “It’s a very big situation.”
Following Friday’s Supreme Court decision, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew thanked the president-elect for his commitment to finding a solution to keep the app accessible in the U.S. Chew, who met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago last month, is set to attend Monday’s inauguration.
