Summary
TikTok became unavailable in the U.S. on January 20, 2025, after a federal ban targeting Chinese-owned ByteDance took effect.
Apple and Google removed TikTok and other ByteDance apps like CapCut and Lemon8 from their stores, and users saw a message stating the app was no longer accessible.
The law, signed by President Biden and upheld by the Supreme Court, requires ByteDance to sell TikTok or face shutdown.
Trump may grant a 90-day extension, but no buyers have emerged.
The ban sparked debates on censorship, free speech, and national security.
I agree with you, in comparison this is really small . . . for those of us paying attention. I think it’s an unfortunate state of the nation where more people will notice this than the genocide financing, which seems quite bipartisan in Washington. It doesn’t surprise me most Americans make more fuss over the app than the weapons, and the scramble and sudden coverage of it despite the ban looming for almost half a year seem to show that. Some people (and many politicians) will also unfortunately see Bidens Israel stance as a good thing no matter what.