Official statement from ByteDance or a reliable news source

TikTok Shuts Down in US, Affects 170 Million Users; Trump Considers 90-Day Extension

Jan 19, 2025, 04:04 AM

TikTok has ceased operations in the United States, following a Supreme Court decision upholding a law that mandated the platform to sever ties with its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, or face closure. The app, which has 170 million users in the U.S., displayed a message to users stating that TikTok was 'not available at this moment' due to the legislation. The Biden administration has stated that TikTok made this decision independently. The White House announced that the current administration would not enforce the law, leaving its implementation to the incoming President Donald Trump, who is set to take office on Monday. Trump has indicated in an interview with NBC that he would 'probably' grant TikTok a 90-day extension to avoid the ban. The law, passed in April 2024, required ByteDance to sell its U.S. operations within nine months to a buyer not considered an adversary to the U.S., or face prohibition on January 19 for national security reasons. The ban has also affected CapCut, another ByteDance-owned app used for video editing.