GUWAHATI, Jan 19: Hours before a ban was to have been imposed on TikTok in the United States, the Chinese social media company ByteDance has removed the app from Google Play Store and Apple App Store for American users.
With the app going offline, users in the USA encountered a blackout preventing them from accessing one of the world’s most popular social media apps, one that was used by 170 million Americans, reports said.
“Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now. A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now,” users in the US encountered this message as they tried to log-in.
The ban on TikTok stems from national security concerns by US officials amid reported control over the company by the Chinese government.
There is, however, some good news for users with President-elect Donald Trump, reports added, saying that he will “most likely” delay the ban for 90 days after he takes office on Monday.
It may be mentioned here that the Narendra Modi-led BJP government had banned TikTok and 58 other Chinese apps on June 29, 2020, citing data security concerns.
