Some 170 million Americans were left this Saturday night (early morning in Spain) without being able to access the popular video social network TikTok, owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. The network was serving its content during the afternoon and, suddenly, around an hour and a half before midnight, the deadline set by the United States Congress. The rule prohibited the application if it did not stop being under Chinese control, citing national security reasons. TikTok said goodbye with a message expressing hope that Trump would reinstate the app.
The addictive infinite carousel of TikTok videos showed its usual content during the afternoon. Dances, jokes, gruesome events, personal stories and also unfiltered misinformation. A video claimed that the president of the United States, Donald Trump, had decided to legalize immigrants; another, that he had renounced deportations, a third, that the expulsions were about to begin. There was also another video that claimed that Elon Musk had bought TikTok and that the social network would not shut down.
About three hours before midnight, the application showed a warning to users under the title “Important update from TikTok,” according to its Spanish version. “We regret to inform you that a law in the United States blocking TikTok will go into effect on January 19 and will force us to temporarily suspend our services. We are working to restore our service in the United States as soon as possible, we appreciate your support, please stay tuned,” the message said.
After 10:30 p.m. (4:30 a.m. in mainland Spain), a new notice appeared: “Sorry, TikTok is temporarily unavailable.” It was no longer possible to view the videos. The app reiterated the legal explanation, but this time added: “It is fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us to reinstate TikTok once he takes office.”
The Apple and Google digital stores removed the application from their catalog. Lemon8, also owned by ByteDance, also stopped working. The content of users registered in the United States was also no longer available. Although it no longer served videos, the application referred to a web page from which users could download their data. The initial blackout was not complete. The application kept opening and, on some occasions, a video would sneak in behind the notice. In addition, TikTok continued to function normally for users registered abroad who connected in the United States with their home numbers, as EL PAÍS was able to verify.
TikTok’s immediate hope is the arrival of Donald Trump to the White House. The president-elect assured this Saturday in an interview that he will most likely decide to approve a 90-day extension in the application of the law after taking office this Monday at noon. “The 90-day extension is something that will most likely be done, because it is appropriate. It is appropriate. We have to study it carefully, “If I decide to do it, I will probably announce it on Monday,” he added.
The law contemplated the possibility of this one-time extension of up to 90 days, but in the event that the sale by the Chinese owner was on track. To do this, the president would have to certify to Congress that a path to carry out the divestment has been identified, that evidence of significant progress towards the execution of said divestment has been presented, and that binding legal agreements exist to close the operation in the extra term. None of that exists today. Furthermore, the extension was designed with respect to the date on which the ban would have taken effect, and it is also not entirely clear to what extent Trump has the authority to extend the deadline once the veto has begun.
The so-called “Protecting Americans from Applications Controlled by Foreign Adversaries Act” made it illegal as of this Sunday the provision of services by American companies to distribute, maintain or update TikTok, unless the American exploitation of the platform separated from Chinese control.
The Government of Joe Biden, due to a matter of time, But the fact that it was not going to take any immediate action against potential non-compliance was not enough guarantee for the companies on which TikTok depends to continue operating to risk fines of up to $5,000 per user. .
United States congressmen approved the law out of fear that China would have, through it, access to the data of millions of Americans and a very powerful propaganda tool at its disposal. The Justice Department, “No one disputes that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) seeks to undermine the interests of the United States, amassing sensitive data on Americans and engaging in covert and malign influence operations,” it said. “No one can seriously dispute that the PRC’s control over TikTok through ByteDance represents a serious threat to national security,” he added.
According to the brief that Joe Biden’s Government presented to the judges, “TikTok’s collection of a large amount of confidential data on 170 million Americans and their contacts makes it a powerful espionage tool, and TikTok’s role as key communication channel makes it a powerful weapon for covert influence operations.” “As long as TikTok remains under the control of the PRC, it could use these weapons against the United States at any time, for example, at a crucial moment during a crisis,” he argued.
