TikTok has gone dark across the US – affecting 170 million American users – after the Supreme Court ruled against its bid to avoid a ban that has shut the app down.
The ban is the end result of 2024 legislation passed on national security concerns that called for TikTok parent ByteDance to sell the popular short-video app or see it shut in the US on 19 January.
Donald Trump, who takes office on Monday, has said he would try to find a “political resolution”.
Speaking to NBC News‘ Meet The Press moderator Kristen Welker on Saturday, the president-elect said he was considering giving TikTok more time to find a buyer.
Mr Trump told Sky’s US partner network in a phone interview: “I think that would be, certainly, an option that we look at.
“The 90-day extension is something that will be most likely done, because it’s appropriate. You know, it’s appropriate. We have to look at it carefully. It’s a very big situation.
“If I decide to do that, I’ll probably announce it on Monday.”
The federal law allows the sitting president to extend the deadline by 90 days if a sale is in progress. But no clear buyers have emerged, and ByteDance has previously said it won’t sell TikTok.
Below are the answers to some key questions:
What has happened to the app?
TikTok’s app has been removed from prominent app stores in the US so can’t be downloaded.
When existing users opened the TikTok app on Saturday evening, they encountered a pop-up message from the company that prevented them from scrolling on videos.
“A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the US,” the message said. “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,” the message said.
“Please stay tuned!”
Some of the so-called “TikTok refugees” have been turning to a Chinese app called Xiaohongshu – aka RedNote.
It is a lifestyle social media app which allows users to post short videos, photos and texts, and it also includes functions like live-streaming and shopping.
Read more:
What is RedNote?
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US TikTokers migrating to Chinese social media app RedNote in protest
How are users affected?
It was thought that TikTok’s estimated 170 million users in the US would still be able to use the app because it was already downloaded on their phones – but that is not the case.
A web-based version of the service might be accessible that has fewer features than the app, but even that might not work, experts have said.
Some users could try to access TikTok through virtual private networks, or VPNs, which can conceal the internet protocol, or IP, address of a user and thereby their location.
Content creators who have built businesses from their TikTok followings have been preparing for the app’s shutdown and were redirecting their followers to alternatives such as Instagram and YouTube.
What do the content creators say?
Tiffany Cianci told the Associated Press the ban shows “our elected officials failed the American people in failing to learn what TikTok actually meant to the American population”.
“In reality, it’s an ecosystem that has created a huge portion of the American economy.
“It’s created a place where seven million small businesses thrive in ways that they’re not able to thrive in any other economic social media system in the United States.”
Influencer and creator Janette Ok said the platform helped her make brand deals and promote her music – bringing “opportunities that I never believed I could experience in my lifetime”.
“It’s a beautiful app, it’s brought so many people together, it’s changed a lot of people’s lives, and for it to just be taken away like that feels… so not American,” she said.
What will advertisers do?
Advertisers have rushed to prepare contingency plans as the ban jeopardises their campaigns on the platforms.
TikTok has continued to pitch advertisers on new features, like a tool launching in test form that would make it easier to create, modify and add advertisements in bulk.
The ban means more than $11bn in annual US ad investment is up for grabs.
The ban could worsen trade tensions between the US and China that were already strained after export curbs on advanced American semiconductor technology to Beijing.
Mr Trump could try to use an executive action to protect TikTok for his four years in office, but he could use the risk of him changing his position to extract something meaningful from China, according to analysts at LightShed Partners.
What impact could the ban have on UK users?
There is no suggestion that the US ban would directly affect users in the UK, where technology is regulated by British legislation. However, UK TikTokers, who create content on social media for a living, have expressed fears over how the ban might impact their viewership and incomes.
Aidan Halling, also known by his handle @etherealgames on TikTok, creates comedy skits on gaming for his 30,000 followers, and is concerned his income may take a hit as the ban could force him to ditch the app.
“A lot of creators rely on this app for a living, and it’s about to be pulled away from under them,” he told PA news.
“This ban could potentially force me to pivot to different content or stop posting all together. While 15% of my followers are American, around 40% of initial video views are from the US.”
US
Financial markets were always going to respond to Trump tariffs but they’re also battling with another problem
Stock markets around the world fell on Thursday after Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs – with some economists now fearing a recession.
The US president announced tariffs for almost every country – including 10% rates on imports from the UK – on Wednesday evening, sending financial markets reeling.
While the UK’s FTSE 100 closed down 1.55% and the continent’s STOXX Europe 600 index was down 2.67% as of 5.30pm, it was American traders who were hit the most.
Trump tariffs latest: US stock markets tumble
All three of the US’s major markets opened to sharp losses on Thursday morning.
The S&P 500 is set for its worst day of trading since the COVID-19 pandemic. File pic: AP
By 8.30pm UK time (3.30pm EST), The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 3.7%, the S&P 500 opened with a drop of 4.4%, and the Nasdaq composite was down 5.6%.
Compared to their values when Donald Trump was inaugurated, the three markets were down around 5.6%, 8.7% and 14.4%, respectively, according to LSEG.
Worst one-day losses since COVID
As Wall Street trading ended at 9pm in the UK, two indexes had suffered their worst one-day losses since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The S&P 500 fell 4.85%, the Nasdaq dropped 6%, and the Dow Jones fell 4%.
It marks Nasdaq’s biggest daily percentage drop since March 2020 at the start of COVID, and the largest drop for the Dow Jones since June 2020.
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The latest numbers on tariffs
‘Trust in President Trump’
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told CNN earlier in the day that Mr Trump was “doubling down on his proven economic formula from his first term”.
“To anyone on Wall Street this morning, I would say trust in President Trump,” she told the broadcaster, adding: “This is indeed a national emergency… and it’s about time we have a president who actually does something about it.”
Later, the US president told reporters as he left the White House that “I think it’s going very well,” adding: “The markets are going to boom, the stock is going to boom, the country is going to boom.”
He later said on Air Force One that the UK is “happy” with its tariff – the lowest possible levy of 10% – and added he would be open to negotiations if other countries “offer something phenomenal”.
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How is the world reacting to Trump’s tariffs?
Economist warns of ‘spiral of doom’
The turbulence in the markets from Mr Trump’s tariffs “just left everybody in shock”, Garrett Melson, portfolio strategist at Natixis Investment Managers Solutions in Boston, told Reuters.
He added that the economy could go into recession as a result, saying that “a lot of the pain, will probably most acutely be felt in the US and that certainly would weigh on broader global growth as well”.
Meanwhile, chief investment officer at St James’s Place Justin Onuekwusi said that international retaliation is likely, even as “it’s clear countries will think about how to retaliate in a politically astute way”.
He warned: “Significant retaliation could lead to a tariff ‘spiral of doom’ that could be the growth shock that drags us into recession.”
Read more:
Do Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariff numbers add up?
Tariffs about something more than economics: power
It comes as the UK government published a long list of US products that could be subject to reciprocal tariffs – including golf clubs and golf balls.
Running to more than 400 pages, the list is part of a four-week-long consultation with British businesses and suggests whiskey, jeans, livestock, and chemical components.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said on Thursday that the US president had launched a “new era” for global trade and that the UK will respond with “cool and calm heads”.
It also comes as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a 25% tariff on all American-imported vehicles that are not compliant with the US-Mexico-Canada trade deal.
He added: “The 80-year period when the United States embraced the mantle of global economic leadership, when it forged alliances rooted in trust and mutual respect and championed the free and open exchange of goods and services, is over. This is a tragedy.”
Tanking stock markets, collapsing world orders, devastating trade wars; economists with their hair ablaze are scrambling to keep up.
But as we try to make sense of Donald Trumps’s tariff tsunami, economic theory only goes so far. In the end this surely is about something more primal.
Power.
Understanding that may be crucial to how the world responds.
Yes, economics helps explain the impact. The world’s economy has after all shifted on its axis, the way it’s been run for decades turned on its head.
Instead of driving world trade, America is creating a trade war. We will all feel the impact.
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PM will ‘fight’ for deal with US
Donald Trump says he is settling scores, righting wrongs. America has been raped, looted and pillaged by the world trading system.
But don’t be distracted by the hyperbole – and if you think this is about economics alone, you may be missing the point.
Above all, tariffs give Donald Trump power. They strike fear into allies and enemies, from governments to corporations.
This is a president who runs his presidency like a medieval emperor or mafia don.
It is one reason why since his election we have seen what one statesman called a conga line of sycophants make their way to the White House, from world leaders to titans of industry.
The conga line will grow longer as they now redouble their efforts hoping to special treatment from Trump’s tariffs. Sir Keir Starmer among them.
President Trump’s using similar tactics at home, deploying presidential power to extract concessions and deter dissent in corporate America, academia and the US media. Those who offer favours are spared punishment.
His critics say he seeks a form power for the executive or presidential branch of government that the founding fathers deliberately sought to prevent.
Whether or not that is true, the same playbook of divide and rule through intimidation can now be applied internationally. Thanks to tariffs
Each country will seek exceptions but on Trump’s terms. Those who retaliate may meet escalation.
This is the unforgiving calculus for governments including our own plotting their next moves.
The temptation will be to give Trump whatever he wants to spare their economies, but there is a jeopardy that compounds the longer this goes on.
Read more:
Do Trump’s numbers on tariffs really add up?
Trump hits island home only to penguins with 10% tariffs
Could America’s traditional allies turn to China? Pic: AP
Malcolm Turnbull, the former Australian prime minister who coined the conga line comparison, put it this way: “Pretty much all the international leaders I have seen that have sucked up to Trump have been run over. The reality is if you suck up to bullies, whether it’s global affairs or in the playground, you just get more bullying.”
Trading partners may be able to mitigate the impact of these tariffs through negotiation, but that may only encourage this unorthodox president to demand ever more?
Ultimately the world will need a more reliable superpower than that.
In the hands of such a president, America cannot be counted on.
When it comes to security, stability and prosperity, allies will need to fend for themselves.
And they will need new friends. If Washington can’t be relied on, Beijing beckons.
America First will, more and more, mean America on its own.
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