TikTok Stops Working In US; ByteDance App No Longer Available On Google Play Store, Apple App Store, Claim Reports

TikTok, the Chinese tech company's ByteDance-owned social media platform, is no longer available in the United States. The application and the company that runs it have warned its users in the country that the application may no longer be available from Sunday after the US Congress passed legislation banning the application.

According to reports from Reuters, the application is no longer available on either Google's Play Store for Android users or Apple's App Store on iOS systems.

This came to pass after the company's appeal against the decision in the United States Supreme Court, the highest court in the United States, was rejected.

Trump's Intervention

The decision by the top court was taken despite an unofficial intervention from the incoming president Donald Trump. Donald Trump, who was the first to chart this in his first term as the 45th president in 2020 has gone back and forth on the issue.

According to his most recent stance, Trump asked the top court in the country is wait it out, until her assumes the Oval Office.

As per reports, Trump, who himself is active on the platform, and has a sizeable following on the short video platform, intended to give the application and its Chinese parent company, ByteDance a moratorium or delay of 90 day to implement the purchase of TikTok from ByteDance.

Earlier, reports also suggested that the Chinese company was intending to sell the app, with or without its powerful algorithm, to Elon Musk, a close ally of Donald Trump.

National Security has been at the centre of this whole saga, as US lawmakers have consistently argued that the app, given its Chinese-origin, and immense popularity, with a giant user base in the US, posed a threat to Uncle Sam's interests.

Exodus To RedNote

In recent past, anticipating the TikTok blackout, many have flooded to another Chinese app called RedNote, which is said to be far more restrictive and marred censorship than TikTok.

India's Ban On TikTok

Previously, among other nations, India after revoking its interim ban, India permanently banned TikTok in India, in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to national security concerns, India in June 2020 restricted TikTok and about 60 other Chinese apps.