TikTok voluntarily shuts down in the U.S. as divest-or-ban law set to take effect

Supreme Court unanimously upholds TikTok ban

Why the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the TikTok ban in the U.S. 08:12

Washington — TikTok voluntarily shut down service in the U.S. late Saturday night, cutting off access to tens of millions of users after the Supreme Court this week upheld a law that effectively banned it over concerns about its ties to China.

The law passed by Congress last year gave TikTok's Chinese parent company ByteDance until Jan. 19 to divest from TikTok or be cut off from U.S. app stores and hosting services. TikTok said a sale wasn't possible and challenged the law in court, but it was rejected by a unanimous Supreme Court on Friday.

The court's decision said the divest-or-ban law does not violate the free speech rights of TikTok or its 170 million users in the U.S., agreeing with the government's position that the platform could be used by China to collect a vast amount of sensitive information on Americans. 

While the Biden administration said enforcement of the law would be left to the incoming Trump administration, the company itself took itself offline shortly before the midnight deadline on Sunday. 

Users in the U.S. who opened the app Saturday night were greeted with a message with the headline, "Sorry, TikTok isn't available right now."

 "A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S.," the message reads. "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. Please stay tuned!"

CBS News has reached out to TikTok for comment. The app was no longer available in the Apple store as of 10:50 p.m. Eastern Time. 

On Friday, TikTok said it would "be forced to go dark" beginning Sunday unless the Biden administration assured service providers that the law would not be enforced. The White House called the appeal "a stunt" and said the company should bring up its concerns with the Trump administration. 

"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," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. 

Even if President-elect Trump declines to enforce the ban, the law would still be on the books, and companies like Apple and Google could be penalized down the road for violations. Trump previously vowed to "save" TikTok, and said Saturday that he was considering an option to extend the deadline for the law to go into effect. 

"The 90-day extension is something that will be most likely done, because it's appropriate," he said in the phone interview, adding, "if I decide to do that, I'll probably announce it on Monday."

The law includes a provision that allows for a short-term extension if there is a sale in progress. 

During Supreme Court arguments on Jan. 10, Noel Francisco, a lawyer for TikTok, warned that the platform would shut down when the law went into effect, explaining that it would be "extraordinarily difficult" for a divestiture to occur under any timeline because the Chinese government opposes a sale of the algorithm that powers the platform by tailoring video recommendations to each user. 

"As I understand it, we go dark," Francisco said. 

This is a developing story and will be updated. 

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• TikTok