Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.
TikTok went dark 90 minutes before a federal ban was set to go into effect on Sunday.
Around 10:30 p.m., TikTok users opened the platform to find the following message: “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.
“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!”
The platform then gave its 170 million American users the option to click close app or learn more, taking them back to the same screen.
The shutdown comes a day after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a law barring TikTok from U.S. consumers citing threats to national security. President Joe Biden signed legislation in April requiring TikTok to be sold by its owner, Chinese company ByteDance, or face a ban.
The law, called the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, gave the company 270 days. The clock runs out tonight and no buyer has emerged in public.
In a last-minute effort to save the app from being barred across the U.S., artificial intelligence company, Perplexity AI, submitted a last-minute bid Saturday to merge its platform with TikTok.
The proposal was submitted to the platform’s parent company ByteDance. The new product would have combined Perplexity, TikTok U.S. and new partners, according to CNBC, and enabled a majority of current investors to keep their equity stakes.
President-elect Donald Trump had asked the Supreme Court to delay its decision while he seeks a “political” solution.
However, his second term will not begin until noon on January 20. Trump, who once tried to ban TikTok and advocated for its removal, has turned into an unexpected savior – promising to “save” it. He has said he is open to giving the app a 90-day reprieve, telling NBC’s Kristen Welker: “I think that would be, certainly, an option that we look at,” he said.
“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.”
The incoming president could try to negotiate a deal with TikTok and ByteDance or lobby Congress to repeal or amend the legislation to ensure the platform’s continued existence in the U.S. However, it’s unclear how feasible that would be.
Backers of the law argue that ByteDance’s ownership gives the Chinese government a potential backdoor into the private information of its U.S. users and a powerful covert propaganda tool.
TikTok and its supporters argue that the company has already made efforts to separate its U.S. users’ data from ByteDance and that banning it would infringe on free speech and the livelihoods of millions of people. Since the Supreme Court’s decision, the company prepared to “go dark” in the U.S. with all access to creating, viewing and sharing content gone. While the app remains on users’ phones it now no longer works.
This is a developing story…
