Iran Press/America: Shortly before a federal law prohibiting TikTok from operating in the United States was scheduled to come into effect on Sunday, the Chinese-owned social media app ceased functioning, rendering videos on the platform inaccessible to U.S. users.
The US President-elect Donald Trump said earlier in the day he would "most likely" give TikTok a 90-day reprieve from the ban after he takes office on Monday, a promise TikTok cited in a notice posted to users on the app.
TikTok, which is owned by China's ByteDance, told users attempting to use the app around 10:45 p.m. ET (0345 GMT): "A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. 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."
Other apps owned by ByteDance, including video editing app Capcut and lifestyle social app Lemon8, were also offline and unavailable in U.S. app stores as of late Saturday.
It was not clear if any U.S. users could still access the app, but it was no longer working for many users and people seeking to access it through a web application were met with the same message that TikTok was no longer working.
TikTok, which has captivated nearly half of all Americans, powered small businesses, and shaped online culture, warned on Friday it would go dark in the U.S. on Sunday unless President Joe Biden's administration provides assurances to companies such as Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab and Google (GOOGL.O), opens new tab that they will not face enforcement actions when a ban takes effect.
