TikTok inaccessible in the United States, Donald Trump intends to postpone the ban and wants a half-American shareholding

“Sorry, TikTok is currently unavailable. » In the United States, since Saturday evening, January 18, the message has been displayed on the popular application which has stopped working to comply with a ban law that came into force on Sunday.

The Chinese social network announced on Friday that it would suspend its services due to lack of guarantees from the Biden government. President-elect Donald Trump, who had been more conciliatory with the platform, cannot intervene before taking office on Monday.

“A law banning TikTok has been implemented in the United Statesexplains the message when attempting to connect. This means you can no longer use TikTok for now. »

The suspension of the social network comes the day after a decision by the American Supreme Court which reinforced the law banning the platform adopted in April 2024 by Congress in the name of national security. The text forces the Chinese parent company ByteDance to sell TikTok under penalty of ban.

“We are fortunate that President Trump has said he will work with us on a solution to restore TikTok once he takes office”specifies the message from the Chinese platform on the screens of its users, concluding with: “Stay tuned!” »

On Friday, the White House estimated that “law enforcement [devait] return to the next government, which will take office on Monday”according to a statement from the spokesperson, Karine Jean-Pierre. However, President-elect Donald Trump announced on Sunday his intention to issue a decree once invested on Monday to suspend the law banning TikTok in the United States, and said he would like the social network to be 50% controlled by shareholders. Americans.

The message, on the platform, referred to a site which offered TikTokers the opportunity to download all of their data and content posted so far. An application that has become a social phenomenon in less than ten 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.

Since Friday, TikTok had urged the Biden government to send a clear signal to Internet providers and application store managers to dissuade them from suspending downloads and updates.

Karine Jean-Pierre described TikTok's latest statements as “maneuver”. “We see no reason for TikTok or other companies to act before the Trump administration takes office on Monday. »

A ninety-day postponement possible

The law theoretically required providers to block downloads and updates during the night from Saturday to Sunday from midnight Eastern time (6 a.m. in Paris, Sunday) 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 magistrates considered that the concerns of Congress “in matters of national security” were “well-founded”.

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 preservation from TikTok.

The law provides for the possibility for the president to suspend its entry into force for ninety days. But postponing its entry into force 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.

Investors interested in buying TikTok

Businessman Frank McCourt is ready to put $20 billion on the table with other partners, for the application's American activities, without his powerful algorithm.

On Saturday, the artificial intelligence start-up Perplexity AI submitted to ByteDance a merger proposal with the American subsidiary of TikTok, a source close to the matter told Agence France-Presse, which would enhance the social network of at least 50 billion dollars.

Donald Trump mentioned TikTok during a telephone conversation on Friday with Chinese President Xi Jinping. And the boss of the social network, Shou Chew, is one of the guests of honor for his inauguration ceremony on Monday.

In addition to TikTok, all ByteDance applications in the United States were taken offline, such as the video editing application CapCut, widely used by content producers, but also another social network, Lemon8, to which TikTokers had migrated. at bay.