TikTok has gone offline in the United States, just hours before a new legislation prohibiting the app was set to take effect.
A notice on the app for US users stated that a law prohibiting TikTok had been implemented, implying that “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,” the message reads.
It comes after the social media platform threatened to “go dark” on Sunday unless the outgoing Biden administration provided guarantees that the ban would not be enforced.
President-elect Donald Trump has stated that he will “most likely” grant TikTok a 90-day respite from a ban when he takes office on Monday.
Users reported that the app had been withdrawn from both Apple and Google’s US app stores, and TikTok.com was not displaying videos.
“The 90-day extension will most likely be granted, because it is appropriate,” Trump told NBC News on Saturday.
“If I decide to do that, I’ll probably announce it on Monday.”
The White House stated that it was up to the incoming administration to take action.
“We see no reason for TikTok or other companies to take actions in the next few days before the Trump administration takes office on Monday,” said press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
The Supreme Court maintained a regulation passed in April last year that banned the app in the United States unless its Chinese parent firm, ByteDance, sold the platform by Sunday, which it has yet to do.
TikTok has contended that the regulation infringes the free expression rights of its 170 million users in the country.
Following the verdict, TikTok’s CEO, Shou Zi Chew, wrote to Trump, praising him for his “commitment to working with us to find a solution.”
Mr Chew is likely to attend Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday.
In the hours leading up to the social media platform’s shutdown, content creators had been posting films to say farewell to their followers.
Creator Nicole Bloomgarden told the BBC that not being on TikTok would result in a huge pay loss.
Another user, Erika Thompson, stated that the platform’s instructional content will be the “biggest loss” for the community.
TikTok users received a notice earlier on Saturday stating that the law would “force us to make our services temporarily unavailable.” We are striving to restore our service in the United States as quickly as possible.”
