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The TikTok lock-out effect.
You can catch the national mood from time to time using the iOS App Store’s top free apps list.
After today’s TikTok chaos, the top 20 apps there are taken up mostly by VPNs and video editing or social media posting apps, with a little ChatGPT and Temu sprinkled in for good measure.
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It’s a good day for lesser-known VPN and video editing apps. Screenshot: iOS App Store
TikTok is back, but where are Marvel Snap, CapCut, and Lemon8?Image: ByteDance
TikTok has returned — at least partially — in the US following a nationwide ban, but other popular ByteDance-owned apps, such as the digital card game Marvel Snap, video editing app CapCut, and the social platform Lemon8, are still blocked. None of these apps, including TikTok, are currently available to download on the Apple App Store or Google Play Store, either.
Though many users expected CapCut and Lemon8 to be affected by the law banning TikTok, Marvel Snap’s ban took some by surprise — including its own developer. On Sunday morning, the game studio Second Dinner said in a post on X, “This outage is a surprise to us and wasn’t planned. MARVEL SNAP isn’t going anywhere.” Marvel Snap is published by Nuverse, a game developer owned by ByteDance.
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TikTok isn’t back in the App Store yetImage: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images
TikTok announced on Sunday that it’s “in the process of restoring service,” but the app is still unavailable in the App Store and Google Play. If you search for TikTok on the App Store, you’ll see a message saying, “TikTok and other ByteDance apps are not available in the country or region you’re in,” while Google Play says, “Downloads for this app are paused due to current US legal requirements.”
Apple’s message also links to a support page explaining why it has removed TikTok.
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Sen. Tom Cotton warns TikTok’s service providers of “ruinous liability” for hosting the app.
The Arkansas Republican and Intelligence Committee chair is putting companies like Apple, Google, and Oracle on notice that they could face not only Justice Department lawsuits, but action from shareholders and state enforcers for servicing TikTok. The warning flies in the face of President-elect Donald Trump’s apparent desire to have TikTok operating on Inauguration Day.
TikTok makes more kissy-faces at Trump.
The app is partially back online in the US with a message explicitly thanking President Trump. The chances that all this desperate messaging backfires and he still forces a sale are steadily rising — that’s what Trump is saying, and the rest of the GOP is insistent that the law be enforced.
Defining “efforts” and “back” in this context is a fun exercise. The Verge
One possible reason mobile app stores took TikTok down.
Republican Senators Tom Cotton and Pete Rickets “called some of the major tech companies in recent days to say they needed to comply with” today’s federal TikTok ban, reports The New York Times.
The article followed a joint statement from the two praising Amazon, Apple, Google, and Microsoft for “halting operations with ByteDance and TikTok.” Since then, the app has started coming back online — but is still unavailable in app stores.
How to bulk download and save your TikTok videosIllustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge
First, TikTok was banned. Then, on Saturday evening, January 18th, it disappeared. Then, the next day, it reappeared. It may be back for good, but any time things get this uncertain, it’s always a good idea to make sure you have backups of all your content — just in case.
While the app offers instructions on how to download single videos, TikTok apparently doesn’t like the idea of allowing its creators to bulk download their videos. You can also download — in TXT or JSON format — a certain amount of your data, which, according to the support page, “may include but is not limited to your username, watch video history, comment history, and privacy settings.” When I tried it, it did not include my videos.
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TikTok’s president warns advertisers to expect ‘temporary service instability.’
The memo to advertisers I’ve seen notes that the app is coming online for “the majority of U.S. users” but not all of them:
I am pleased to let you know that as of today, TikTok will become available for the majority of U.S. users. Over the course of Sunday, ad campaigns that include U.S. audiences will resume operating and delivering ads to U.S.-based users, although live campaigns will have certain limitations. Although we’ve reinforced our infrastructure to minimize disruptions, we anticipate some temporary service instability that may affect advertising in the U.S. Thank you for sticking with us. We know how vital TikTok is to your brand and your audiences, and we’re working hard to restore normal operations as quickly as possible.
TikTok hasn’t returned to the App Store or Google Play just yet.
The platform says it’s “in the process of restoring service” but Apple and Google make it clear that it’s not available due to the divest-or-ban law.
Search for TikTok on Google Play, and you’ll see a message saying, “Downloads for this app are paused due to current US legal requirements,” while the App Store notes “TikTok and other ByteDance apps are not available in the country or region you’re in.”
Did TikTok forget to lock Vision Pro owners out of the app?
TikTok’s native visionOS app still works, at least for me, after the company cut off access for millions of US users of its smartphone app.
I can still scroll TikToks in mixed reality. Screenshot: TikTok for visionOS
TikTok is loading on the web.
Despite the app continuing to be locked down, TikTok’s website seems to be working for US users, including those of us at The Verge, though at least in my case, it features a banner saying it’s unavailable.
Meanwhile, the app version now features a message saying it’s “temporarily unavailable,” and no longer mentions Trump.
TikTok is loading on the web, though with a banner saying it’s “temporarily unavailable.” Screenshot: TikTok
TikTok’s new error message doesn’t mention Trump.
As of 11:45AM ET, the app shows a new — less groveling — pop up when you try to open it: “We’re working hard to resolve this issue. Thank you for your patience.”
Compare that to the message the company pushed to users last night as the app went dark: “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!”
Image: TikTok
The TikTok shutdown is locking out non-US users, tooImage: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images
TikTok’s US shutdown last night appears to be affecting users outside the country as well. People have taken to social media in the hours since, complaining they can’t access the app despite living in non-US countries, and it’s not always clear why.
In some cases, the problem appears to be using a VPN that routes traffic through the US. One user on Reddit, who says they’re based in the UK, saw the message that’s supposed to be displayed only in the US overnight and found that a quick location change in their VPN app fixed it:
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Trump says he’ll delay TikTok ban, but the platform must be soldCath Virginia / The Verge | Photo from Getty Images
President-elect Donald Trump says he wants service providers like Apple and Google to put TikTok back online in the US, and he proposed creating a joint venture where the US owns 50 percent of the app.
“I’m asking companies not to let TikTok stay dark!” Trump wrote on Truth Social Sunday. “I will issue an executive order on Monday to extend the period of time before the law’s prohibitions take effect, so that we can make a deal to protect our national security. The order will also confirm that there will be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before my order.”
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Marvel Snap is banned, just like TikTokMarvel Snap is unavailable due to the ban on ByteDance apps. Screenshot: Marvel Snap
The divest-or-ban law aimed at TikTok is also taking down other ByteDance-linked apps, including the popular card game Marvel Snap. The app suddenly cut off access Saturday night, seemingly without warning, surprising gamers who weren’t aware of its connection to ByteDance.
The card game battler set in the Marvel universe is developed by Second Dinner, which is based in California. But the game is published by Nuverse, a company owned by ByteDance. As a result, it’s subject to the same shutdown order.
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TikTok ban and shutdown recap.
Here’s our recap to catch you up on TikTok’s shutdown and how we got here with the ban that no one seemed to want to implement.
And yes, we included some funny (and sad) recent videos here.
TikTok shuts down in the USImage: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images
TikTok has gone dark in the US now that the ban-or-divest law passed last year is taking effect. The app has been removed from both Apple and Google’s app stores, it’s unavailable on the web, and users who open the app are blocked from viewing videos.
The shutdown has the astonishing effect of removing a social network used by 170 million people in the US, according to TikTok’s own numbers. While other social media platforms have experienced outages, even prolonged ones, no network as big as TikTok has simply shut down without any indication of if or when it will come back online.
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TikTok starts warning US users it will be ‘temporarily unavailable’Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images
TikTok is officially going dark in the United States now that a federal ban on the app is set to go into effect on January 19th. Around 9PM ET, the app began notifying people in the US with a message that said the ban will “make our services temporarily unavailable.”
The message goes on to say that TikTok is “working to restore our service in the US as quickly as possible” — an outcome that will require action from the incoming Trump administration one way or another. A similar message is showing up in the CapCut video editor, which is also owned by TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance.
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TikTok says it will go offline on Sunday if Biden doesn’t interveneImage: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images
TikTok says it plans to go offline on Sunday, January 19th if the Biden administration doesn’t intervene.
The company confirms earlier reporting that it will be “forced to go dark” on the 19th unless the outgoing administration provides a “definitive statement” assuring its “most critical service providers” that they won’t be held liable for breaking the law. Those providers include Apple and Google, which together distribute TikTok through their app stores, and its hosting partners, which include Amazon and Oracle.
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