TikTok Takes a Deep Dive into Darkness: Federal Ban Now in Play!

Update: Following a nationwide outage that lasted under 24 hours, TikTok has already made its comeback. The application is once again operating normally for users who have it installed.

“In coordination with our service partners, TikTok is currently working to restore functionality,” TikTok stated in a message on X. “We appreciate President Trump for providing the essential clarity and assurance to our service partners that they will encounter no repercussions for offering TikTok to over 170 million Americans and for supporting over 7 million small businesses. It represents a firm stance for the First Amendment and counters arbitrary censorship. We will collaborate with President Trump on a long-lasting solution to maintain TikTok in the United States.”

Nevertheless, the application is absent from the App Store and is marked as “unavailable” in the area.

Original Story: As of Saturday evening (January 18), TikTok has ceased operation for all users in the U.S. Just hours prior to the federal prohibition slated to become fully effective (January 19), the application was eliminated from all major App Stores, resulting in the app’s 170 million American users losing access to their FYPs.

Set to take effect January 19, commencing around 9:30 pm EST, TikTok users were greeted with the following notification upon launching the app: “A regulation prohibiting TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, this means you cannot access TikTok at the moment. We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated he will collaborate with us on finding a solution to reinstate TikTok once he assumes office. Please stay tuned.”

Users are then prompted to either “Close the app” or “Learn more” – the latter guiding them to the app’s site. “In the meantime, you can still log in to retrieve your data,” the announcement continues. Users initially saw a different pop-up message for roughly an hour before the later warning about the impending ban appeared.

In an interview with NBC News on Saturday the 18th, Trump expressed his intention to “most likely” grant the app a 90-day extension to avoid the ban.

Keep following Hypebeast as this narrative develops.