President-elect Donald Trump said earlier in the day 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.
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.
It was not clear if any U.S. users could still access the app, but it was no longer working for many users and people seeking to access it through a web application were met with the same message that TikTok was no longer working.
Under a law passed last year and upheld on Friday by a unanimous Supreme Court, the platform has 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.
“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. “China will take all necessary measures to resolutely safeguard its legitimate rights and interests,“ a spokesperson said.
Uncertainty over the app's future had sent users - mostly younger people - scrambling to alternatives including China-based RedNote. Rivals Meta and Snap had also seen their share prices rise this month ahead of the ban, as investors bet on an influx of users and advertising dollars.
Minutes after TikTok's U.S. shutdown, other users took to X, formerly called Twitter.
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”.
Users on Instagram fretted about whether they would still receive merchandise they had bought on TikTok Shop, the video platform's e-commerce arm.
There have been signs TikTok could make a comeback under Trump, who has said he wants to pursue a “political resolution” of the issue and last month urged the Supreme Court to pause implementation of the ban.
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.
Privately held ByteDance is about 60% owned by institutional investors such as BlackRock and General Atlantic, while its founders and employees own 20% each. It has more than 7,000 employees in the U.S.
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