TikTok has shut itself down in the US ahead of January 19 deadline.
A TikTok ban in the US that's been in the works for years started early on Saturday with the company locking down US users -- but the entire saga remains more about politics than national security.

As of January 19, 2025, TikTok is no longer accessible within the US. The app is being removed from Apple's App Store and the Google Play Store, plus Oracle must now stop hosting the service's US user data.
Those existing users will see only an explanatory pop-up message on launching the app. TikTok's owners, Chinese firm ByteDance, is said to be working to allow users to download their data and personal information.
The second notification sent to users with the app installed cites some sort of discussion taking place with president elect Donald Trump, despite him being the architect of the ban in the first place.
A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can't use TokTok for nowWe are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned!
How we got here
The ban is really the culmination of years of politics, but ostensibly, the reason is that TikTok is owned by a Chinese company. It's alleged that therefore that China could compel the company to provide it with confidential US user data.
President Trump proposed the ban in 2020,
"As far as TikTok is concerned, we're banning them from the United States," he said in August 1, 2020. "Soon, immediately. I mean essentially immediately. I will sign the document tomorrow."
It was on August 7, 2020, that Trump signed the Executive Order banning TikTok, and giving it a deadline of September 20. The order specified that such Chinese-owned apps continue "to threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States."
The order cited the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, and prohibited any transaction between US firms and TikTok's owner, ByteDance. Before the September deadline, ByteDance was said to be in talks that would see Oracle take over its US business, and Trump publicly approved the deal -- initially.
He then scuttled this Oracle/TikTok deal in September 2020. It's not known why, but conceivably it was believed that the Oracle deal would not assuage security concerns.
TikTok's owners have repeatedly claimed that the US security concerns were unfounded. It said that it had strong data security, and denied claims that the Chinese government had any access.
The September 2020 ban was first delayed by a US judge. It was then blocked in November 2020 by the courts as an infringement of the rights of Americans whose income was derived from their work on TikTok.
Biden signs the ban into law
The case against TikTok has not varied or expanded from the accusations of Chinese access to US user data. But in 2024, President Biden signed the ban into law.
"The path to my desk was a difficult path," President Biden said. "It should have been easier and it should've gotten there sooner. but in the end we did what America always does -- we rose to the moment."
In this case, ByteDance was given nine months to divest itself of TikTok. A three-month extension would be triggered if the company was in negotiations to sell the platform.
That extension did not happen, but one thing that changed was that Trump asked in December 2024 for the ban to be paused. There doesn't appear to be any technical, security, or legal reason for Trump's request, but any delay would have pushed the ban into his forthcoming administration.
One other thing that arguably changed over the four years of the on/off ban threats, is that TikTok has grown significantly. According to SEO.ai,TikTok now has 150 million users in the US, compared to
82 million in 2020.
Overall, TikTok has a billion active users daily, so the loss of 150 million is significant, but not fatal. What might ultimately damage TikTok more is that news of the ban has sent users to alternatives, including RedNote -- another China-based company.
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China's National Intelligence Law (2017)
1. Article 7:
• Requires organizations and citizens to “support, assist, and cooperate with state intelligence work” upon request.
• This clause is interpreted as obligating companies to provide data and other forms of cooperation to Chinese intelligence agencies.
2. Article 14:
• Grants intelligence agencies the authority to demand assistance from organizations or individuals and to use their resources for intelligence gathering.
3. Article 28:
• Emphasizes confidentiality, stating that individuals and organizations must not disclose their involvement in assisting intelligence activities.
China's Personal Information Protection Law (2021): Similar to GDPR in some respects but includes provisions that prioritize national security over personal privacy.
In case you didn't notice in the text above, TikTok is prohibited by law from revealing if China's intelligence agencies have taken their data.
Would Apple and Google be breaking the law if they didn't revoke the certificate in their mobile OS for the TikTok app that's on their phone? How would you run the TikTok app if the app was blocked by the OS? Do you think most users will jailbreak their smartphones?
And could VPN companies be breaking the law if they allowed this? Any VPN company that physically has any servers in the US may be forced to shut down if they didn't block that traffic. It would be very easy for the government to detect if a VPN company was breaking the law.
Along comes Musk with his Tesla. The Chinese are smart, tactful and strategic - they learnt the trade from Tesla's giga factory in China. They figured EVs are where they can have their day. They couldn't compete against the likes of Toyota, Kia, Honda, BMW, Audi, Ford, GM etc. etc. on their own turf, i.e. ICE cars.
All the while they have been quietly piling up the mineral resources that they need for their EVs and BAM! they launched not one, but nine brands on Europe, Australia and the US.
VW is in trouble, Stellantis is in trouble as other the US car manufacturers.
If Trumpy blocks the Chinese cars with Tariffs, they will retaliate with what matters most to Apple: phones. And that's what Tim & Co are worried about.
Trumpy thinks he can bully his weight around the world. Sure he can, but, he is going to get pushed back big time. Where it hurts US companies. All American imports from China.
Next time you are strolling around Walmart or Costco look and see how many brands of products are stamped PRC.
Also, remember that iPhone sales are dependent hugely on China sales.
So the issue is not TikTok the issue is Tit for Tat. You tariff us, Xi tells Trump we will block you big time.
it’s almost like simply quoting a law is a piss-poor proof of anything other than the fact of the law’s existence.
China doesn't allow US-based social apps to conduct business in China because he doesn't trust the NSA and CIA. Why should we trust Chinese social apps then, given that the Chinese security apparatus has even less institutional oversight than the NSA and CIA?
The fact that China doesn't seem to have tapped TikTok for intel and mass manipulation doesn't mean that they can't or won't.