What Happened to TikTok Over the Weekend?

What happened to TikTok over the weekend? Hours before the TikTok ban deadline (January 19 @ 12 AM EST) the service shut down in the United States. The message informing users of the shut down was changed at least two times, as captured by Digital Music News.

The Supreme Court ultimately upheld the Biden-signed law that required TikTok to shut down by the January 19. The law required TikTok’s owner ByteDance to divest fully from the app or face the shut down by the deadline. Since ByteDance did not sell, TikTok did exactly that on Saturday, sending an in-app notification to all U.S. based TikTok users. That notification read:

“We regret that a U.S. law banning TikTok will take effect on January 19 and force us to make our services temporarily unavailable,” the message to TikTok users began. “we’re working to restore our service in the United States as soon as possible and we appreciate your support. Please stay tuned.”

A few hours later (after midnight) the message was updated. Anyone who opened the TikTok app on their phone now saw this message.

“A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the United States. 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 new message came after President-elect Trump posted on his social media site Truth Social saying he would issue an executive order after his inauguration to extend the period of time before the law would take effect. President Biden said in a statement on Friday that he believes “the actions to implement the law” should be left up to Trump, who takes office on Monday.

After it began restoring service to users in the United States, TikTok issued a statement on its social media accounts.

“In agreement with our service providers, TikTok is in the process of restoring service. We thank President Trump for providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties providing TikTok to over 170 million Americans and allowing over 7 million small businesses to thrive.”

“It’s a strong stand for the First Amendment and against arbitrary censorship. We will work with President Trump on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States.”

For now, DMN is keeping track of where TikTok is available. The service is currently unavailable to download on the iOS App Store or Google Play—though service to the website is accessible just fine. Users who already had the app installed on their devices can access TikTok, but new users cannot download TikTok. It’s likely that after President Trump is sworn in and signs his executive order, TikTok will be restored for download on those services.