TikTok Shuts Down In US Amid Ban, Blocked Posts That Said 'Follow Me On'

TikTok has posted a shutdown notice in its Android and iOS apps this evening, as the wildly popular social media app faces a US ban that takes effect on January 19.

Through its Android and iOS apps this evening, TikTok has officially confirmed that it will cease operations in the United States on January 19 in line with the government ban which is set to take effect tomorrow. A notice to users appears when the app is first opened, as spotted by our sister site 9to5Mac earlier this evening, but can be dismissed and the app can continue to be used for the time being. The notice does not appear again after being dismissed, even if the app is closed and reopened.

TikTok says that its services will only be “temporarily unavailable,” and that it is working to restore the app.

The notice, pictured below, reads:

Important update from TikTok
We regret that a U.S. law banning TikTok will take effect on January 19 and force used to make our services temporarily unavailable.
We’re working to restore our service in the U.S. as soon as possible, and we appreciate your support. Please stay tuned.

The US Supreme Court unanimously voted earlier this week to uphold the law banning ByteDance, the China-based owner and operator of TikTok, from continuing services. The law required ByteDance to sell TikTok to continue services.

It’s been reported by The Information that TikTok’s primary cloud provider, Oracle, will be shutting down TikTok servers tonight. The app is presumably set to stop working sometime in the next few hours.

Update: At roughly 10:30pm ET, TikTok officially shut down its services in the US and blocked the ability to keep using the app.

A pop-up in the app reads:

Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now
A law banning TikTok in 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!

Meanwhile, as the app’s shutdown nears, TikTok appears to be preventing accounts from telling their viewers which other platforms they can be followed on. Seemingly in a bid to prevent its users from fleeing to other platforms, TikTok appears to be blocking posts that include the text “Follow me on” from being posted or added to stories. If you try to post content that includes the phrase “Follow me on,” TikTok appears to be blocking that content from being posted, as we’ve confirmed across multiple devices and accounts this evening. This includes videos with text overlays, videos with the phrase in its description, and static text that would be added to a story. When attempting to post, a “something went wrong” message appears and the content is saved to drafts. In our testing, one account was flagged for review repeatedly, while one piece of content with the phrase was let through.

For a deeper dive into TikTok’s current situation and potential future, see additional reporting from our sister site 9to5Mac.