Politics

TikTok goes dark as U.S. ban takes effect

Published

2 weeks ago

January 19, 2025

Millions of TikTok users in the United States are no longer able to watch videos on the social media platform as a federal ban on the immensely popular app takes effect.

The company’s app was removed Saturday evening from prominent app stores, including the ones operated by Apple and Google, while its website told users that the short-form video platform was no longer available. The blackout began just hours before the law took effect.

Users opening the TikTok app on Saturday encountered a pop-up message preventing them from scrolling videos that read, “Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now.”

“A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S.,” the message said. “Unfortunately that means you can’t use TikTok for now.”

“We are fortunate that President Donald Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office,” the notice continued, in a reference to President-elect Trump’s pledge to “save” the platform. The company told its users to stay tuned.

The only option the message gives to U.S. users is to close the app or click another option leading them to the platform’s website. There, users are shown the same message and given the option to download their data, an action TikTok previously said may take days to process.

Before the announcement went out, TikTok said in another message to users that its service would be “temporarily unavailable” and the company was working to restore its U.S. service “as soon as possible.” But how long the platform will remain dark is unclear.

Apple said in a statement on its website that TikTok and ByteDance apps were no longer available in the U.S., while visitors to the country could have limited access. “Apple is obligated to follow the laws in the jurisdictions where it operates,” the company said.

“If you already have these apps installed on your device, they will remain on your device. But they can’t be redownloaded if deleted or restored if you move to a new device. In-app purchases and new subscriptions are no longer possible,” the statement said, adding that the change could impact performance, security and compatability with future versions of iOS and iPadOS.

TikTok CEO Shou Chew posted a video thanking Trump for his commitment to work with the company to keep the app available in the U.S. and a “strong stand for the first amendment and against arbitrary censorship.”

“We are grateful and pleased to have the support of a president who truly understands our platform. One who has used talk to express his own thoughts and perspectives, connecting with the world and generating more than 60 billion views of his content in the process,” Chew said.

In an interview with NBC News on Saturday, Trump said he was thinking about giving TikTok a 90-day extension that would allow them to continue operating. If such an extension happens, Trump — who once favored a TikTok ban — said it would “probably” be announced Monday, the day that he is sworn in as president. Chew is expected to attend Trump’s inauguration with a prime seating location.

In Washington, lawmakers and administration officials have long raised concerns about the app, which they see as a national security threat due to its Chinese ownership. TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a technology company based in Beijing that operates the well-known video editing app CapCut and Lemon8, both of which were also unavailable for service Saturday evening.

The federal law required ByteDance to cut ties with TikTok by Sunday or face a nationwide ban. The statute was passed by Congress in April after it was included as part of a high-priority $95 billion package that provided foreign aid to Ukraine and Israel. President Joe Biden quickly signed it, and then TikTok and ByteDance quickly sued on First Amendment grounds.

While defending the law in court, the Biden administration argued it was concerned about TikTok collecting vast swaths of U.S. user data that could fall into the hands of the Chinese government through coercion.

Officials have also warned the algorithm that fuels what users see on the app is vulnerable to manipulation by Chinese authorities, who can use it to shape content on the platform in a way that’s difficult to detect. But to date, the U.S. has not publicly provided evidence of TikTok handing user data to Chinese authorities or tinkering with its algorithm to benefit Chinese interests.

The Supreme Court unanimously decided on Friday the risk to national security posed by TikTok’s ties to China overcomes concerns about limiting speech by the app or its 170 million users in the United States.

After TikTok’s service started going dark, some in China slammed the U.S. and accused it of suppressing the popular app. In a post on the Chinese social media platform Weibo, Hu Xijin, a former editor-in-chief for the Chinese Communist Party-run newspaper Global Times, said “TikTok’s announcement to halt services in America marks the darkest moment in the development of internet.”

“A country that claims to have the most freedom of speech has carried out the most brutal suppression of an internet application,” said Hu, who is now a political commentator. TikTok does not operate in China, where ByteDance instead offers Douyin, the Chinese sibling of TikTok that follows Beijing’s strict censorship rules.

After the court ruling, both White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said the Biden administration would leave the law’s implementation to President-elect Donald Trump given that his inauguration falls the day after the ban takes effect.

But TikTok said on Friday evening it “will be forced to go dark” if the administration didn’t provide a “definitive statement” to the companies, such as Apple, Google and Oracle, that deliver its service in the U.S.

Jean-Pierre called TikTok’s demand a “stunt” and said there was no reason for TikTok or other companies “to take actions in the next few days before the Trump administration takes office.” But despite those statements from the administration, confusion lingered about what would happen until TikTok began blocking its service.

Under the law, mobile app stores are barred from offering TikTok and internet hosting services are prohibited from delivering the service to American users. Violators could incur fines of up to $5,000 for each user who continues to access TikTok, meaning penalties the companies could face if they continue offering TikTok could total to a large sum.

As its written, experts said the law does not require TikTok to take down its platform, so its unclear if the company voluntarily shut it down or was unable to continue the service alive after losing access support from its tech providers. The company did not respond to questions sent this week about its plans.

The statue allows the sitting president to extend the deadline by 90 days if a sale is in progress. But no clear buyers have emerged, and ByteDance has previously said it won’t sell TikTok.

On Saturday, artificial intelligence startup Perplexity AI submitted a proposal to ByteDance to create a new entity that merges Perplexity with TikTok U.S. business, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Perplexity is not asking to purchase the ByteDance algorithm that feeds TikTok user’s videos based on their interests and has made the platform such a phenomenon.

Other investors have also been eyeing TikTok. “Shark Tank” star Kevin O’Leary recently said a consortium of investors that he and billionaire Frank McCourt put together offered ByteDance $20 billion in cash. Trump’s Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin also said last year that he was putting together an investor group to buy TikTok.

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Republished with permission of The Associated Press.

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Politics

Gov. DeSantis ready to ‘get in the game’ of migrant transfers to GITMO

Published

1 hour ago

January 31, 2025

May Greene

President Trump has ordered the Cuba-based detention center to be prepped for full capacity as part of his deportation push.

Saying Guantánamo Bay is a “hell of a lot closer” to Florida than Martha’s Vineyard, Ron DeSantis reiterated interest in sending migrants there in accordance with a Donald Trump executive order.

“I think it’d be a great place, quite frankly, to have criminal aliens,” DeSantis said Friday in Destin, adding that Florida is “going to be able to assist” moving undocumented immigrants to the base in Cuba.

The Governor has made this case all week that the state is a logical launching pad for deportations.

DeSantis posted to social media Wednesday that he’s “happy to send flights from Florida down that way with deportees in tow,” in the wake of Trump saying he’s telling the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security to “begin preparing the 30,000 person migrant facility at Guantánamo Bay” for an influx of undocumented immigrants.

“What better state to take advantage of that than the state of Florida,” he told podcaster Dave Rubin Tuesday.

DeSantis also said this week “deputized” state forces who can “make the same decisions” as Immigration and Customs Enforcement or the Border Patrol could also “take them back to Haiti or the Bahamas or wherever they are coming from, right on the spot” if they “intercept them on the sea.”

The Trump Executive Order calls “to expand the Migrant Operations Center at Naval Station Guantánamo Bay to full capacity to provide additional detention space for high-priority criminal aliens unlawfully present in the United States, and to address attendant immigration enforcement needs … in order to halt the border invasion, dismantle criminal cartels, and restore national sovereignty.”

It does not contemplate a state role in extradition or extraterritorial transport.

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Politics

GOP strategist Justin Hollis joins Weatherford Capital, will lead growth and partnerships

Published

2 hours ago

January 31, 2025

May Greene

Justin Hollis, a veteran consultant and political strategist, is joining Weatherford Capital as Vice President of Growth and Partnerships, the firm announced this month.

Hollis previously served as a partner at The Southern Group, one of the state’s top lobbying firms by compensation and one of the top firms in the southeastern U.S. There, he forged valuable relationships with private investment firms and elected officials, making him an asset to Weatherford Capital, a firm co-founded by former Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford.

“Justin’s exceptional leadership, keen understanding of policy, and unwavering commitment to excellence align with our mission,” said Weatherford, the firm’s managing partner. “As our portfolio companies continue to grow and transform industries, Justin will play an integral role in advancing that growth with his experience and relationships.”

Before his work with The Southern Group, Hollis was the executive director of the Beer Industry of Florida, where he advocated for the state’s largest beer distributors in one of the state’s most complex regulated industries.

“I am thrilled to embark on this exciting new opportunity with the exceptional team at Weatherford Capital,” Hollis said. “Their investments are propelling some of the nation’s greatest innovations forward and yielding strong returns for their investors. With my experience in leadership, policy, and business development, I aim to advance those initiatives further.”

Hollis will be based in Weatherford Capital’s Tampa office, a short drive from Lakeland, where he lives with his wife Rachel and their two children.

In addition to his service with The Southern Group and the Beer Industry of Florida, Hollis was one of former Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam’s longtime strategists. He also previously chaired Putnam’s political committee, Florida Grown PC, throughout Putnam’s unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign in 2018. With Hollis as chair, that committee reeled in more than $29.5 million in contributions.

Hollis quietly announced his departure from the Beer Industry of Florida earlier this month when the organization announced it was merging with the Florida Beer Wholesalers Association.

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Politics

Anna Paulina Luna seeks significant restrictions on immigrants claiming asylum

Published

2 hours ago

January 31, 2025

May Greene

As Republicans look at changing legal immigration, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna wants Congress to change asylum rules.

She filed the House version of the Refugees Using Legal Entry Safely (RULES) Act.

“The days of open-border chaos are over,” the St. Petersburg Republican said.

Sen. Bernie Moreno, an Ohio Republican, filed similar legislation in the Senate earlier this month.

“I’m joining Senator Moreno in introducing the RULES Act to put an end to the rampant fraud and abuse in our asylum system. America is a nation of law and order—not a free-for-all for illegal aliens gaming the system,” Luna said.

“If you want asylum in the greatest country on Earth, you follow our rules, period. No more loopholes, no more catch-and-release, no more second chances for lawbreakers. We are taking our border back.”

The bill would restrict asylum claims only to those entering the country at legal ports of entry. It also stated individuals making any claims cannot be released or paroled into the U.S. until cases are adjudicated in court.

As written, the legislation would bar anyone denied asylum in the process to apply again at a later date. It would also prohibit anybody who had previously entered the country from seeking “this cherished humanitarian help.”

More than 100,000 individuals were granted asylum in the fiscal year that ended in 2024, President Joe Biden’s last year in office, according to the Immigration Policy Institute. By comparison, the last full year under President Donald Trump’s first term saw about 11,400 admissions to the U.S. on asylum claims.

Luna’s bill was filed after Trump took several steps to restrict legal immigration, including revoking humanitarian parole programs for Cubans, Venezuelans and Haitians in the United States. That is something other representatives from Florida, such as Rep. María Elvira Salazar, a Hialeah Republican, have asked the President to reconsider.

The Homeland Security Department also just vacated any extension of Temporary Protected Status for refugees of Venezuela.

It’s unclear how a change in asylum status and the restrictions on new applications would apply to individuals already in the United States who will lose legal status under the new changes.

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