Share and Follow
TikTok users in the United States have been locked out of the popular social media app as a ban takes effect — but the lockout might not last long.
US users (Sunday, 2.45pm AEDT) saying they could not access the app due to the looming ban on 19 January.
The app was also not available for download on the Google and Apple app stores.
The ban comes after the US Supreme Court on Friday upheld a law banning the app — which has 170 million American users — which Congress passed Congress with strong bipartisan support last year.
Many politicians and officials who supported the ban had , citing TikTok’s ties to China through its parent company ByteDance. The law passed by Congress ordered TikTok to sell its US operations to a local company or be blocked from the US market on 19 January.
But President-elect Donald Trump, who will be inaugurated on 20 January, has signalled the ban could be eased.
Could Donald Trump lift the TikTok ban?
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.
Earlier on Saturday (local time), Trump said he would “most likely” give TikTok a 90-day reprieve from a potential ban after he takes office on Monday.
“The 90-day extension is something that will be most likely done, because it’s appropriate,” Trump told NBC. “If I decide to do that, I’ll probably announce it on Monday.”
Trump’s promise was cited in a notice posted to users on 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,” the notice said.
Trump’s opposition to the ban represents a reversal in stance from his first term in office when he also aimed to ban TikTok.
Since, Trump has said he has “a warm spot in my heart for TikTok,” referencing the way TikTok helped reach young voters in the 2024 election.
How does the US TikTok ban work?
The law puts the burden on app stores and cloud service providers, who won’t be able to “distribute, maintain, or update” the application.
That’s why Google and Apple have removed TikTok from their app stores — and that means that those who already have the app would not be able to update it, eventually making it unusable.
But TikTok appeared to cut off access to its existing users on Saturday (local time).
“A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the US,” said the message to users. “Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now.”
Could the US TikTok ban affect Australian users?
As for Australia, the ban wouldn’t technically affect any users.
But Milovan Savic, a research fellow at Swinburne University of Technology who specialises in social media, .
“If it’s banned in the US, that would also mean there would be less content created,” Savic told SBS News ahead of the ban.
“So, while Australian users might still have access to the app, they might not enjoy it as much because, obviously, the content will be significantly reduced.
“Maybe some of their favourite creators, or pages they follow will just disappear.”
TikTok’s entry into the US
TikTok’s significant user base was initially inherited when ByteDance acquired teen karaoke app Musical.ly in 2017.
At the time, Musical.ly had reached a milestone of 100 million monthly active users.
Those users were automatically migrated to TikTok, which despite having a new interface retained the unique short-form video-sharing capability.
“TikTok came into its own during the pandemic — at a time when everyone was at home scrolling and spending time on social media,” said Tama Leaver, a professor of internet studies at Curtin University.
However, TikTok’s powerful algorithm, its main asset, is more closely tied to its success.
The platform presents a vast collection of user-specific videos, that can be viewed with a smartphone app or on the internet.
“The fact that previous content has been successful does not guarantee that the next piece is successful,” Leaver said.
“As a result, there’s more energy put into each piece of content … which is structurally different to say your Instagram or your YouTube that rely on repeat content from the same accounts.”
Silicon Valley not sharing its ‘toys’
For years, TikTok’s Chinese ownership has raised concerns among US politicians and officials.
Politicians and Biden’s administration have said China could use TikTok to amass data on millions of Americans for harassment, recruitment and espionage.
“TikTok’s scale and susceptibility to foreign adversary control, together with the vast swaths of sensitive data the platform collects, justify differential treatment to address the government’s national security concerns,” the Supreme Court said in the unsigned opinion.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement the ruling affirmed that the law protects US national security.
“Authoritarian regimes should not have unfettered access to millions of Americans’ sensitive data,” he added.
TikTok’s chief executive has said the company has never, and would never, share US user data with the Chinese government.
On a very basic level, Leaver said some of the concerns held by critics are true.
“TikTok is harvesting a lot more data than it needs on all of its users,” he said, but added that such information “is not particularly valuable to the Chinese government”.
“It really does feel like the origins of Silicon Valley getting together and saying, ‘we don’t want anybody else playing with our toys’ rather than being a legitimate national security issue.”
US TikTok users jump ship
While there are many competitors poised to take over, YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels — both created in TikTok’s image — have neither enjoyed comparable prominence.
But as the 19 January deadline approached, millions of users jumped to other Chinese-owned apps like RedNote.
Leaver said creators who rely on TikTok for income need to diversity their social media strategies.
“We have learned time and time again that if creators are using social media platforms as their primary source of income, they should always have a foot in every camp,” he said.
“The idea that TikTok is the primary platform may well be true, but we are beholden to tech giants changing their rules and their policies overnight.”
With additional reporting from Reuters.
