TikTok made its online application inaccessible on Saturday in the United States, carrying out its threat, while indicating that Donald Trump “will work on a solution” with the platform to “restore” it.
“A law banning TikTok has been implemented in the United States,” says a message if you try to connect. “This means you can no longer use TikTok for now.”
“We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to restore TikTok once he takes office,” the text continues. “Stay tuned!”
The message referred to a site offering TikTokers the opportunity to download all of their data and content posted so far.
Downloads blocked
An application that has become a social phenomenon in less than 10 years, extremely popular with young people, even very young Internet users, TikTok is no longer visible on the digital stores of Apple and Google in the United States.
The text was passed by Congress by a large majority in April 2024, forcing the Chinese parent company ByteDance to sell TikTok under penalty of ban. The law theoretically required providers to block downloads and updates during the night from Saturday to Sunday from midnight (Sunday at 6:00 a.m. in Switzerland), under penalty of very heavy fines.
Seized by TikTok as a last resort, the American Supreme Court unanimously refused on Friday to suspend the law. The nine senior judges considered that Congress’s concerns “in matters of national security” were “well-founded”.
>> Read also: TikTok threatened in the United States after the green light from the Supreme Court
American elected officials had justified the passing of the law by the need to prevent the Chinese authorities from accessing the data of American users or from manipulating opinion in the United States.
-But if the platform was the subject of frank hostility from many American elected officials a year ago, the tide has since turned and a political consensus has emerged in recent days, favorable to the preservation of TikTok.
Report promis par Donald Trump
On Saturday, Donald Trump declared that he would study the matter closely once he was inaugurated on Monday. A “90-day postponement will probably be decreed,” added the Republican, who tried during his first term to have TikTok banned, in vain.
Postponing the entry into force of the law is only theoretically possible if tangible elements make a sale credible. However, until now, ByteDance has always officially refused to sell its jewel, even if several investors have come forward.
>> Read also: Elon Musk in talks to buy TikTok’s US operations
YouTube as an alternative
Just minutes after the suspension of the famous platform, several content creators uploaded videos to YouTube to welcome the “refugees” of TikTok.
“Thank you for following me on YouTube,” said sensational press star Perez Hilton, who has nearly 470,000 subscribers on the video site.
Others expressed their shock and sadness at seeing their favorite application disappear from the internet, perhaps temporarily.
afp/edel
