TikTok prepares to shut US servers down ahead of possible federal ban

TikTok will shut down its app for US users unless the Supreme Court blocks an upcoming ban of the platform in the United States.

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In April 2024, President Joe Biden signed a law requiring that TikTok parent company ByteDance divest its US assets before a certain date or risk TikTok being banned in the United States. As that divestment has not happened, it now appears that TikTok is getting ready to shut its US servers down and end service to users in the States unless the Supreme Court steps in to block the ban.

Word of TikTok preparing for the ban came via The Information, which spoke with sources familiar on the matter. While the law would mandate a ban only on new TikTok downloads on Apple or Google app stores, existing users would have been able to continue to use it for the time being. That said, it appears TikTok’s plan is to shut down in the US altogether without something drastic changing, according to several anonymous sources. Once the shutdown goes into effect, those that open the app will be sent to a screen that directs them to a webpage that explains the ban. Users affected will be able to download all their data so as to keep their personal data.

President Joseph Biden at a podium addressing a crowd
President Joe Biden signed the law mandating a ban on TikTok in the US if ByteDance did not divest from it in April 2024.
Source: Getty Images

TikTok’s fate has been in limbo for months on end with continued debate. ByteDance has explored a number of opportunities to attempt to stave off the ban since Biden signed the law against it, including suing the US government for allegedly infringing on its First Amendment rights and attempting to file an emergency injunction to delay the ban. There were even rumors of ByteDance selling the US rights for TikTok to Elon Musk. However, none of these actions have seen any results in keeping the ban from happening, and so TikTok seems to have decided it will cut its losses and remove the service if sources are to be believed.

With January 19, 2025 coming fast, when the US TikTok ban would become final, it will likely take a major change to keep it from happening. Stay tuned as we watch for updates to this story.

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on BlueSky @JohnnyChugs.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    January 15, 2025 12:55 PM

    TJ Denzer posted a new article, TikTok prepares to shut US servers down ahead of possible federal ban

    • reply
      January 15, 2025 1:24 PM

      Interestingly MY MOM told me today that she heard people on Tik Tok were planning to just move to The Chinese Tik Tok. I said "But Tik-Tok *IS* Chinese" and she said "That's what I was wondering about!"

      • reply
        January 15, 2025 2:40 PM

        The weirdest thing I've seen is folks moving over to that RedNote platform to try to do what they were doing on TikTok. You'd think Chinese social media apps were just brands of potato chips. Although US social media apps aren't proving to be much better.

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