National —
TikTok, CapCut, Lemon8, hit mobile game Marvel Snap, and other apps related to China’s ByteDance are now inaccessible in the U.S. following a Supreme Court ruling that upheld the ban.
This comes after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a law, signed by President Joe Biden in April 2024, that prevents American companies from providing content services to social media platforms deemed under the control of foreign adversaries, unless they sell to a U.S. or allied buyer. Bytedance has officially denied it is under Chinese influence, but the US government disagrees. Bytedance has also consistently stated they shall not sell their apps, and are especially protective of TikTok’s algorithm and search functions, which even critics say is ages ahead of competitors like Meta and Google.
Today, January 19th, visitors to TikTok received a message stating, “Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now. A law banning TikTok ban has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now.” A later edit to the message thanked incoming president Donald Trump for showing willingness to find a solution and they hoped for a compromise between all parties soon.
TikTok has also been removed from Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store in the U.S., and short videos on TikTok’s website are no longer accessible.
Meanwhile, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump reportedly discussed the TikTok issue with Chinese President Xi Jinping on January 17th. The following day, Trump told CNBC that he might delay the ban for 90 days. Donald Trump becomes the 47th US president tomorrow at his inauguration in Washington DC.
With TikTok’s 170 million American users affected, many have turned to Red Note, a social media platform similar to Instagram, making it the most downloaded app on Apple’s App Store and Google Play this week. Red Note, ironically, is completely Chinese owned and entirely based in China and has become the grounds of a rare cultural exchange between Chinese and American nationals. For now, in an interesting move, the Chinese government has decided to not separate US and Chinese users and has even welcomed them to what they called the global village.
It’s important to remember as well that tens of millions of Americans make their entire livelihood and promote their businesses on TikTok and it isn’t just dancing videos as many who have never used the application seem to think. America is monetized through the TikTok creativity program, similar to YouTube, and also has a very popular TikTok Shop where users can essentially open their own digital storefront. The latter is very popular in Thailand as well, which has no plans to ban the app. That is no surprise as Thailand has a closer relationship with China but also holds it’s relationship with the US as important.
Analysts say if the ban stretches on, it could cost the US economy over a billion dollars in the first month alone, taking into consideration the effects not just on direct features like the shop and monetization but indirect as in businesses who depended on TikTok for their customer traffic and advertisers as well.
Many people were caught off guard by CapCut, one of the most popular video editors in the world, Marvel Snap, popular study AI Gouth, and others being taken offline too. CapCut users in the US have complained their videos, for many their entire livelihoods for videographers, are unaccessible even for paying users. Marvel Snap, a recent winner for best mobile strategy game and critical darling, was also a major surprise and features many people who play it for a living on Twitch.
Although there is no plan to shut down TikTok in Thailand there is some concern that the move, if it stays long term, could hurt tourism as TikTok is incredibly popular in Thailand as well and used by many Americans and Thai companies for tourism related videos and to attract potential visitors. However, India has banned TikTok for several years along with almost every other Chinese app due to ongoing political issues and it hasn’t seemed to cause major tourism issues, with most Indians moving to Instagram.
For now, all eyes rest on incoming President Donald Trump and what he will do after his inauguration…where Bytedance and TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chou, who is from Singapore, not China, will be attending.
This article originally appeared on our sister website The Pattaya News.
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