"Currently Unavailable"... US TikTok 'Shutdown' Becomes Reality

TikTok becomes inaccessible three hours before 'TikTok Ban Act' takes effect
Sister app Lemon8 also halts service in the United States

"Sorry, TikTok isn't available right now."

The popular Chinese video-sharing platform TikTok suspended its service around 9 PM Eastern Time on the 18th. When attempting to access TikTok, this message appears. Below the message, it states, "Due to legislation banning TikTok in the United States, unfortunately, TikTok is not available right now," and adds, "It is fortunate that President (Donald) Trump has pledged to work with us on a solution to resume TikTok after his inauguration. Please stay tuned!"

China's short video platform 'TikTok' suspended its service in the United States around 9 p.m. on the 18th (local time).

The New York Times (NYT) reported that users were already unable to access TikTok that night, three hours before the 'TikTok Ban Act' took effect on the 19th. There are approximately 170 million TikTok users in the United States. The TikTok application has also disappeared from Google and Apple app stores. Additionally, not only TikTok but also its sister app, Lemon8, displayed a message saying "Currently unavailable." TikTok and Lemon8 are both owned by the Chinese company ByteDance.

NYT described the mood among TikTok users that day as somber. Creators who had been active mainly on TikTok bid tearful farewells, while some users uploaded edited compilations of nostalgic viral TikTok videos.

Service Unavailable screen that appears when accessing TikTok in the United States. TikTok

This situation stems from the passage of the so-called 'TikTok Ban Act' by the U.S. Congress in April last year. The U.S. Congress passed the TikTok Ban Act amid concerns that personal information of TikTok users in the U.S., such as gender, residence, and phone numbers, could be leaked to China, posing a national security threat. The law also stipulates that if ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, does not sell TikTok's U.S. operations to an American company within 270 days, TikTok's operations in the U.S. will be banned starting on the 19th. In response, TikTok strongly announced on the 18th that it would forcibly terminate its service in the U.S. from the 19th. However, President-elect Trump, who is set to be inaugurated on the 20th, hinted at the possibility of a TikTok ban suspension by referring to the law's provision allowing a 90-day extension for the sale deadline.

Americans opposed to the TikTok Ban Act have already flocked to the Chinese version of Instagram, Xiaohongshu. As a result, on the 13th, Rednote, the international version of Xiaohongshu, ranked first in free download apps on the Apple App Store. There is a reaction that if Americans continue to seek similar Chinese apps, the purpose of enforcing the TikTok Ban Act will inevitably be undermined.

Meanwhile, on the 19th, an announcement was also posted in China stating that TikTok would suspend its service in the U.S. Hu Xijin, former editor-in-chief of the Chinese state-run Global Times, sarcastically commented on Weibo, calling it a "dark moment in internet development" and saying, "The U.S. has set an example for the Western world by silencing online voices in the name of national security."