Apple and Google removed TikTok from their app stores Saturday night, complying with a law requiring China’s ByteDance to divest the social app or see it face an effective ban in the U.S.
The Apple App Store and the Google Play store’s removal of TikTok means people in the U.S. can no longer download the popular short-form video app on their devices. The app’s delisting comes after the Supreme Court on Friday unanimously upheld the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which President Joe Biden signed in April. TikTok on Friday said its service would go dark, meaning it would stop working for Americans, unless the Biden administration intervened.
On Apple’s App Store, a message saying “App Not Available” appears on TikTok’s former app-install page.
“This app is currently not available in your country or region,” the message said.
“We’re sorry, the requested URL was not found on this server,” said a message on the page the previously hosted TikTok on the Google Play store.
Some users who visited TikTok’s app and website on Saturday were greeted with a message that said, “Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now.”
“A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now,” the notice said. “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!”
Lemon8, another service owned by ByteDance, also displayed a notice letting users know it wasn’t available in the U.S. The app had shot up the charts recently, becoming one of the most popular free apps on iOS.
“Sorry, Lemon8 isn’t available right now,” the notice states.
TikTok halted service of its app in the U.S. on Saturday.
The law requires that service providers no longer support TikTok within the U.S. if ByteDance failed to carry out a “qualified divestiture” of the app by Sunday. As a result, Apple, Google and Oracle could face tough penalties for failing to adhere to the law. Apple and Google previously distributed the app through its app stores while Oracle provides cloud computing services to TikTok and said in June that the law would hurt its business.
After the Supreme Court’s decision, TikTok CEO Shou Chew said use of TikTok is a First Amendment right and added that over 7 million American businesses use it to make money and find customers.
Awaiting Trump
“Rest assured, we will do everything in our power to ensure our platform thrives as your online home for limitless creativity and discovery as well as a source of inspiration and joy for years to come,” Chew said in a TikTok video.
Chew also thanked President-elect Donald Trump, who previously asked the Supreme Court to pause the law’s implementation and allow his administration “the opportunity to pursue a political resolution of the questions at issue in the case.” Chew is expected to attend Trump’s inauguration in Washington on Monday, along with tech leaders from companies including Meta, Amazon, Apple and Google.
Trump arrived in Washington Saturday evening. His transition team did not immediately respond to the TikTok shutdown. Trump on Friday said that the Supreme Court’s decision was expected “and everyone must respect it.”
“My decision on TikTok will be made in the not too distant future, but I must have time to review the situation. Stay tuned!” Trump wrote in a post on his social media app Truth Social.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Saturday acknowledged TikTok’s statement that it would go dark and characterized it as a “stunt.”
“We have laid out our position clearly and straightforwardly: actions to implement this law will fall to the next administration,” Jean-Pierre said. “So TikTok and other companies should take up any concerns with them.”
Trump told NBC News on Saturday that he would “most likely” give TikTok a 90-day extension of the Sunday deadline, and that he would “probably announce” a decision on Monday.
“I think that would be, certainly, an option that we look at,” Trump said in the phone interview. “The 90-day extension is something that will be most likely done, because it’s appropriate. You know, it’s appropriate. We have to look at it carefully. It’s a very big situation.”
Artificial intelligence startup Perplexity AI on Saturday submitted a bid for TikTok that would result in the AI-powered search engine startup combine with TikTok’s U.S. operations and new capital partners, CNBC reported.
Businessman Frank McCourt’s internet advocacy group Project Liberty announced on Jan. 9, that it had submitted a proposal to buy TikTok from ByteDance at undisclosed terms. McCourt told CNBC on Friday that “we, I believe, are the only bidder” that meets the necessary criteria of disentangling the technology from the Chinese algorithm.
