TikTok is no longer available to users in the U.S., the result of a controversial law that forces the popular platform to go offline unless it separates from its Chinese owner, ByteDance, npr.org reported.
“When users tried to open the app around 10:35 p.m. ET, a message appeared saying, ‘Sorry, TikTok is currently unavailable. A law banning TikTok has gone into effect in the United States. Unfortunately, this means you cannot use TikTok right now.”
The post goes on to say that newly elected President Donald Trump has promised to “work with us on a solution to restore TikTok as soon as he takes office. Please stay tuned! ”
Around the same time, TikTok also stopped appearing in the Apple and Google Play app stores. A law recently upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court ordered Apple and Google to remove the service from their app stores. It also ordered web hosting companies, including TikTok’s internal cloud provider, Oracle, to stop supporting the app. Otherwise, they will face penalties that could reach billions of dollars.
Britain is banning the use of the social network TikTok on government phones and electronic devices for security reasons, Duchy of Lancaster Chancellor and British Cabinet Secretary Oliver Dowden said Thursday.
“We are going to ban TikTok on government devices. We’re going to do that immediately,” Dowden said, speaking in the House of Commons.
“We’re moving to a system where government devices will only be able to access third-party apps on a pre-approved list. This system is already in place in many agencies, now it will become the rule for the entire government,” he added.
According to the minister, social networking apps, particularly TikTok, collect and store a large amount of information about users, including contacts, user content and geolocation information.
“On the government’s electronic devices, this information can be sensitive,” Dowden noted.
He stressed that there is a risk that apps could use government data.
Dowden said the government will impose “limited exceptions for the use of TikTok on government devices where it is required for operational reasons.”
He noted that the decision follows the U.S., Canada and the EU.
Late last year, the U.S. Congress approved a bill banning the use of the TikTok social network on federal government phones and electronic devices.
In February, the White House gave all federal agencies 30 days to remove TikTok from all government devices.
In turn, U.S. lawmakers plan to consider a bill that would allow the President of the United States to ban the application altogether.
A total of 13 U.S. states have already taken action against TikTok, which is owned by ByteDance, a company based in China.
According to U.S. authorities, the Chinese government could use the Chinese app to collect data from American users.
