TikTok stops working as US ban comes into force

A new law in the United States has caused the popular video-sharing app TikTok to stop working for users in the country. This law was put into effect late on Saturday, and many users received a message on their screens stating, 'You can't use TikTok for now. ' The ban on TikTok is due to concerns about its connections to the Chinese government. The app was given a deadline of January 19 to be sold to a US buyer, or else it would be banned completely. President Joe Biden had previously stated that he would leave the decision regarding TikTok to his successor, Donald Trump. Trump has indicated that he will likely grant TikTok a 90-day extension from the ban once he takes office on Monday. He mentioned, 'The 90-day extension is something that will be most likely done, because it's appropriate. ' If he chooses to do this, he plans to announce it on Monday. Users have reported that TikTok has also been removed from the app stores of both Apple and Google in the US, and the website TikTok. com is currently not displaying any videos. A message from TikTok read, 'We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. ' This marks the first time that a major social media platform has been banned in the United States. On Friday, the US Supreme Court upheld the law that was passed in April of the previous year, which stated that TikTok would be banned unless its parent company, ByteDance, based in China, sold the platform by Sunday. TikTok has argued that this law violates the free speech rights of its 170 million users in the US. Following the ruling, TikTok's CEO, Shou Zi Chew, reached out to Trump, expressing gratitude for his 'commitment to work with us to find a solution. ' Chew is expected to attend Trump's inauguration on Monday. In the hours leading up to the ban, many content creators were posting videos to say goodbye to their followers. Creator Nicole Bloomgarden shared with the BBC that not being able to use TikTok would lead to a significant decrease in her income. Another user, Erika Thompson, expressed that the loss of educational content on the platform would be the 'biggest loss' for the community. Earlier on Saturday, TikTok users encountered a message stating that the law would 'force us to make our services temporarily unavailable. We're working to restore our service in the U. S. as soon as possible. ' Meanwhile, a government minister in the UK stated that there are no plans to ban TikTok in the country. He said, 'We won't be following the same path as the Americans unless or until. there is a threat that we are concerned about in the British interest, and then of course we will keep it under review. ' The app was under scrutiny in 2023 due to security concerns. However, the minister remarked that 'for consumers who want to post videos of their cats dancing, that doesn't seem like a security threat to me.