TikTok is not available in the US and has been removed from the App Store

For the first time in the history of the Internet, the United States government has officially banned a major global social networking platform, joining the ranks of authoritarian regimes such as Russia and China. On Saturday, TikTok is officially dark. Users trying to access the app are now greeted with a message that says “TikTok is not available right 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 message added. “Please listen!”

It is the end result of congressional legislation past last year which requires TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to either sell the app’s US operations or face a nationwide ban. But unlike countries that regularly engage in Internet censorship, the United States has no centralized infrastructure to prevent Americans from accessing specific apps or websites.

Instead, the law puts pressure on Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their app stores, or risk accumulating millions of dollars in fines. Both companies appear to have removed TikTok and other apps from their parent company ByteDance as of Saturday. Google and Apple did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The law also prohibits companies from providing data hosting services to TikTok. Oracle, which counts TikTok as one of its biggest cloud computing customers, said began to tell the staff to close the servers that host TikTok data from the United States on Saturday, according to the Information. Oracle did not immediately return a request for comment.

In May, TikTok and a group of US creators appealed to stop the law from going into effect, saying it violated the First Amendment. The Supreme Court rejected those arguments in a unanimous decision on January 17, concluding that the provision was motivated by “well-founded national security concerns.”

“It’s a blatant violation of the First Amendment,” says Evelyn Douek, a Stanford Law School professor who specializes in online speech issues. “Unfortunately for me, all nine Supreme Court justices disagree, and almost everyone who cares listens to their opinion over mine. It’s hard to take the national security justification seriously, however, when in recent days past and future presidents, as well as members of Congress seem to be pushing back on whether an immediate arrest is necessary after all.

With the deadline just days away, President Biden has signaled that he will leave enforcement to the incoming Trump administration. The move left the fate of the app in limbo, and TikTok urged the Biden administration on Saturday to provide a definitive assurance that it will not enforce the law. In response, Biden’s team suggested that TikTok was raising its concerns with Trump.

In Blind, an anonymous messaging app popular among tech workers, some TikTok employees wondered if they would have a job next month, while others worked as usual. “Anyone else’s boss is also planning meetings next week on new future projects without acknowledging the ban? wrote one user. “I have 2025 strategy meetings next week,” replied another user. “I’m just doing what they tell me It’s comforting in a way.”