TikTok ban takes effect

Millions of TikTok users in the United States are no longer able to watch videos on the social media platform as a federal ban on the immensely popular app took effect.

The company's app, which had 170 million users from the US, was removed Saturday evening from prominent app stores, including the ones operated by Apple and Google, while its website told users that the short-form video platform was no longer available. The blackout began just hours before the law took effect.

When users opened the TikTok app on Saturday, they encountered a pop-up message that said: "Sorry, TikTok isn't available right now."

But the company added: "We are fortunate that President [Donald] Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office."

This was in reference to President-elect Donald Trump's pledge to "save" the platform.

In an interview over the weekend, President-elect Donald Trump said he was thinking about giving TikTok a 90-day extension that would allow them to continue operating. If such an extension happens, Trump, who once favored a TikTok ban, said it would "probably" be announced today, the day that he is sworn in as president.

In Washington, lawmakers and administration officials have long raised concerns about the app, which they see as a national security threat due to its Chinese ownership. TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a technology company based in Beijing that operates the well-known video editing app CapCut and Lemon8 - both of which were also unavailable for service Saturday evening.

While defending the law in court, the Biden administration argued it was concerned about TikTok collecting vast swaths of US user data that could fall into the hands of the Chinese government through coercion.

But to date, the US has not publicly provided evidence of TikTok handing user data to Chinese authorities or tinkering with its algorithm to benefit Chinese interests.

Associated Press