{"id":578874,"date":"2025-01-19T07:36:54","date_gmt":"2025-01-19T05:36:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=578874"},"modified":"2025-01-19T07:36:59","modified_gmt":"2025-01-19T05:36:59","slug":"tiktok-blocks-us-users","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/internet\/578874-tiktok-blocks-us-users.html","title":{"rendered":"TikTok blocks US users"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

TikTok was unavailable for US-based users late Saturday after the company failed to thwart a nationwide shutdown required under a new national security law that takes effect Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S.,\u201d according to an in-app pop-up message. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnfortunately, that means you can\u2019t use TikTok for now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President-elect Donald Trump said Saturday he would \u201cmost likely<\/a>\u201d give TikTok a 90-day reprieve from the law, providing Chinese-owned parent company Bytedance more time to find a buyer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump also told NBC in an exclusive interview that he\u2019d probably announce it on Monday after he is sworn in.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office,\u201d the notification continued. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPlease stay tuned!\u201d The note also directs users to a page to \u201clearn more,\u201d where they can download their TikTok data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was TikTok\u2019s choice to suspend availability late Saturday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The controversial law\u00a0requires tech companies that host or distribute TikTok in the US\u00a0\u2013 such as Apple, Alphabet\u2019s Google and Oracle \u2013 to stop doing so on 19 January.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Removing the app from the app stores would not have shut off the service immediately; TikTokers who\u2019d already downloaded it would have been able to continue using it, but would not have been able to install software updates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The app would have deteriorated over time until becoming unusable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By preemptively taking the platform offline all at once, and earlier than anticipated, TikTok has a chance of mobilizing its enormous user base into protest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s possible users will demand action from political leaders like Trump to reverse the ban. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

TikTok says that 170 million Americans \u2013 half the country\u2019s population \u2013 use the app.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The law, signed last April by President Joe Biden, required ByteDance to sell its US TikTok business to address national security concerns or face a shutdown.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TikTok has previously tried to use its popularity to change its fate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company urged TikTokers to call Congress to protest the bill and try to prevent it from passing when it was first introduced. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The strategy backfired at the time, stoking lawmakers\u2019 fears about the app\u2019s influence over US users.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But given Trump\u2019s recent support of the app, it could be more effective this time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump, who tried to ban TikTok during his first presidency over national security concerns, has since warmed up to the social media platform,\u00a0speculating<\/a>\u00a0that it helped him win young voters during the election. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this month, he unsuccessfully made a push for the Supreme Court to delay the law\u2019s divestiture deadline so he could negotiate a solution once in office.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TikTok CEO Shou Chew has also spent time with Trump at Mar-a-Lago and is expected to attend his inauguration on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even before TikTok made the app unavailable, loyal creators were\u00a0organizing online to pressure Trump\u00a0to follow through on pledges he made on the campaign trail to be TikTok\u2019s savior.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a promise Trump made and it is a promise he used to get a large number of young people to vote for him,\u201d TikTok influencer Tiffany Cianci told Bloomberg ahead of the company\u2019s recent appearance before the Supreme Court. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are calling on him to deliver immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TikTok was unavailable for US-based users late Saturday after the company failed to thwart a nationwide shutdown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341034,"featured_media":578875,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[46251,35045,98481],"class_list":["post-578874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-internet","tag-bytedance","tag-donald-trump","tag-tiktok-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578874"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341034"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=578874"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578874\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":578877,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578874\/revisions\/578877"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/578875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=578874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=578874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=578874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}