On the evening of January 18th, 2025, TikTok’s US operations decided to shut down before midnight in advance of a US law prohibiting the app from being downloaded. Immediately after the app’s shutdown, other social media platforms such as X (formerly Twitter) were flooded with shocked reactions, as many weren’t anticipating the shutdown to be so abrupt. Many had expected the app to go dark at midnight, as the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act required the app’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, to sell its US operations by January 19th or face a ban. A banner appeared on users’ screens showing an “Important Update from Tiktok” which would “make their services temporarily unavailable”. The app stayed offline throughout the night, as TikTok reassured users that they were working on a solution to restore the platform to its more than 170 million users.
The outgoing Biden administration had tried to assure app stores (such as Apple and Google) that there wouldn’t be any penalties collected for keeping TikTok on their servers. Still, TikTok said they needed more clarity on the situation and decided to keep the app offline as a precaution. TikTok CEO Shou Chew said the App was working with the incoming Trump administration to keep TikTok alive. On the afternoon of January 19th, the app came back online, allowing users to return to watching and creating videos without interruption. TikTok declared that with the incoming administration’s cooperation, TikTok could return online. This is due to an executive order that the President signed a few days later which would delay the enforcement of the law for 75 more days. The app remains unavailable for downloads or updates on Apple and Google’s app stores.
“After the ban, I almost deleted it from the App Store before I found out I couldn’t re-download it if I wanted to,” Champe student and TikTok user Malia Tamakloue said. “I’m so devastated about the ban, but I’m happy that it’s back for a little bit longer.”
