About availability of TikTok and ByteDance Ltd. apps in the United States
123 comments
·January 19, 2025daemoens
The app was shutdown a couple of hours ago in the US and this was the message all TikTok users saw when they opened the app.[1]
The same guy who pushed for a ban massively last year, is going to save the app despite the security concerns he and most of our government said they had. If only we knew what happened in that classified briefing that made them vote together across party lines.
[1] https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxbusiness.com/foxbusiness.c...
tivert
> If only we knew what happened in that classified briefing that made them vote together across party lines.
I don't know about any classified briefing, but TikTok publicly shot itself in the foot badly during the vote, though a hamfisted attempt to influence it. I think that was enough in itself to bring about bipartisan unity.
csomar
This is what happens when the process of law gets thrown out of the window and instead power is negotiated by people at the top. As someone who lived in a dictatorship -> democracy -> dictatorship, seeing tech CEOs pilgrimage to the Trump house, the US is critically close to turning into a dictatorship.
Andys
This is exactly what we saw when Sept 11 happened (over 20 years ago) and the Republicans decided to invade Iraq and carry out all sorts of extra-judicial mischief.
I started to think the world was going to end but its ticking along in the same manner which has now coloured my views.
csomar
States have a different (and significantly longer) timelines that humans. Even the Soviet Union "instant" collapse took years.
afavour
They’re massaging his ego and quite honestly it might be their best strategy. A whole lot of people out there want their TikTok back and you can bet Trump would love to call the press conference announcing that he, and only he, did the greatest deal and got the app back. Classified briefing be damned.
creddit
If you want another angle beyond "massaging egos", look into the Trump <> Jeff Yass connection: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Yass
jakelazaroff
That last sentence is sarcastic, right? They didn’t like that TikTok was showing pro-Palestinian content.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/lawmaker...
silisili
I'm not going to pick a side, as I'm not versed enough in the history and nuances.
But I will say, partly emboldened by Massie's admissions, the absolute control Israel has over the US government is concerning.
null
mrtksn
“Freedom loving Trump saving freedom of speech from the dictators that ban apps” would be such a boon for Trump. It’s amazing that the current administration set up such a scene.
mr_00ff00
Will admit, this is a big PR win for him if it works.
Especially since a lot of young voters / voters in general don’t see much of the impact of the president.
Him doing something popular that the average person can see seems like a huge win.
apsec112
More people support the TikTok ban than oppose it:
https://www.dailysignal.com/2025/01/17/americans-banning-tik...
mrtksn
He can even appear like fighting the anti-freedom establishment that tries to take away something they like and make people believe that any other legal troubles he might have later be of political nature.
DrBenCarson
This law was passed by Congress and upheld 9-0 by the Supreme Court
themgt
The TikTok legislation was included as part of a larger $95 billion package that provides foreign aid to Ukraine and Israel and was passed 79-18.
iykyk. Also this article from two days ago is hilarious, "congressional leaders who championed the law are now shying away from calling for the ban to begin Sunday" with Schumer, Jeffries and the White House all trying to pass the buck to someone else and try to avoid a ban:
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/us-leaders-lawmake...
Reality is this was a game of chicken. American leaders wanted to force a sale not be left standing like a trophy hunter next to the corpse of one of the most beloved apps. Now the elephant is dead and there's no hunters to be found! We'll see what happens.
h0l0cube
And Trump so far is only offering a 90 day extension to find a new US buyer. The ban was signed into law late April last year, but they've spent much of that time trying to fight it legally than actually find a buyer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restrictions_on_TikTok_in_the_...
mrtksn
And?
FranzFerdiNaN
It’s amazing how you fully buy into Trump propaganda.
hn_throwaway_99
It's pretty clear the comment you are responding to was being sarcastic.
stonesthrowaway
> The same guy who pushed for a ban massively last year, is going to save the app despite the security concerns he and most of our government said they had.
Such grave security concerns and yet that both Trump and Harris had official accounts on tiktok? Doesn't make much sense does it? Trump was extremely popular on tiktok.
> If only we knew what happened in that classified briefing that made them vote together across party lines.
Whenever I hear bipartisan support, I know it's not for anything good. Like for iraq war, israel, etc. Do you think the "classified briefing" is anything but theater? Do you really think they weren't told what to do before the classified briefing by their masters?
The whole tiktok nonsense is absurd just like the ukraine war. But at least we got to see a ukrainian comedian on the lex fridman podcast.
guelo
There was nothing in the classified briefing. The ban was enacted because their zionist donors told them to. Our government is corrupted past the point of recovery.
daemoens
No, you don't know what was in a classified briefing.
guelo
If you read Senator's quotes from the the time, for example here https://www.npr.org/2024/03/21/1239691465/tiktok-ban-bill-se..., all the senators are saying the briefing should be public, aka it's b.s. They talk about chinese collecting data and potentially manipulating the algorithm, just the standard public discussion about this. Halfway through that article Tom Cotton slips and complains about a "clear skew in pro-Hamas propaganda". Which is a flat out illegal 1st amendment violation, censorship based on viewpoint.
AceJohnny2
Huh, I didn't realize Marvel Snap fell under that umbrella ban. I play that game during lunch breaks, it's a good card game with 2-3 minute matches, developed by Hearthstone luminaries (though it's never been clear to me what gameplay benefit you got from season passes, ie what their business model is. I was unaware of security concerns like TikTok that Tracks Everything it can)
Upon launching the game on iOS, the following message appears:
> Unfortunately, MARVEL SNAP is temporarily unavailable on US stores and is unavailable to play in the US.
> This outage is a surprise to us and wasn't planned.
> MARVEL SNAP isn't going anywhere. We're actively working on getting the game up as soon as possible and will update you once we have more to share.
I guess we'll see how temporary it is.
daemoens
Are there any other services or companies besides ByteDance affected by the bill?
enraged_camel
How is marvel snap affiliated with bytedance?
freddie_mercury
It is published by a company that ByteDance owns.
Presumably they are switching to a new publisher and will be back soon.
1xdevnet
The game is published by Nuverse, which is a ByteDance subsidiary.
Lammy
No opinion on TikTok itself as I've never used it, but I hope this wakes more people up to the fact that they're at the whim of the app gatekeepers and makes them demand the ability to run what they want on hardware they supposedly own.
nemothekid
Note: the “app gatekeepers” in this context is the United States Government.
DrBenCarson
Uh the law specifically makes it illegal to distribute ByteDance apps
Apple and Google are at the whim of Congress here
Lammy
Don't care; doesn't supersede my right to general-purpose computing
stouset
Yes, if you live in the United States, our elected government has the ability to supersede your right to general-purpose computing which is—as far as I’m aware—not in either the Constitution, the bill of rights, nor in later amendments.
DrBenCarson
Apple never told you you were getting a general-purpose computer in the form of an iPhone
You knew what you were buying
dvngnt_
can't relate since im on android
cruffle_duffle
Covid already proved that the government can yank your shit at their whim with absolutely no recourse on your part. It’s just nobody was paying any attention because they all lost their mind. Hopefully people wake up and see how little the government gives a shit about you or I.
beeflet
There's a lot of debate in the media about whether or not the banning of bytedance/tiktok is an infringement of the 1st ammendment rights of users or if it represents a threat to the security of the country.
I just think that governments shouldn't be able to easily take down internet services like this. If it was just a normal web service with reasonably competent userbase, it could continue operating a hidden service over tor or some other mixnet. Instead, the government can effectively shut down the service by sending takedown orders to app stores and ISPs, which are naturally monopolistic and have little reason to stand up to regulators and act on behalf of their user's interests.
People have locked themselves into walled gardens and this is the end product. The town square has been privatized and controlled. Own your computers, people! Or someone else will.
wodenokoto
Maybe we can update the title to reflect that its in America and not world wide?
DrBenCarson
Fair, done. Thank you for the suggestion
rf15
Ah, the great and classic play of "politician wants to insert his name into everything to get recognition when things get better". This is Modi's rice all over again.
russli1993
Tens of thousands of companies using Tiktok shop or other Bytedance services is suddenly in-operable as well. Jobs loses, layoffs coming.
The power of digital dictatorship, USA government can kill a company, the entire ecosystem, all of the companies, users, entities relying on the digital application and service with stroke of pen. Every country and person on the planet should have vested interest to reduce choke points that can be exploited by USA government. So USA government shenanigans can't just ruin the invention you created, your jobs, your peaceful Sunday.
dkjaudyeqooe
Closing TikTok in the US isn't going to kill Bytedance.
Every company is subject to the laws of every country where it operates. I don't know why you're singling the US out.
Ultimatley Bytedance is responsible for their own behavior and the consequences.
mr_00ff00
As a counter argument (and not saying this is right)
This creates a vacuum of time that Americans now can use on other tech apps. American leisure hours is a finite resource, in a way TikTok competes with Netflix, Meta, and even sports.
That’s revenue in other areas.
tokioyoyo
Is this the first time we're getting a social media with no US-users? This is actually kinda interesting, as US-based content dominates a good chunk of international videos.
freddie_mercury
No, there are lots of them, including obviously all the ones in China like Douyin and Weibo but also Bigo Live, Zalo, and others.
tasuki
> But they can’t be redownloaded if deleted or restored if you move to a new device.
Amazing news! It's a plot to stop people buying new phones, hence saving the planet a little bit...
lukax
So people could just use a non-US VPN and a non-US Apple account to download the apps?
schott12521
From what I've read, user accounts are tagged as being US created and are therefore blocked from accessing the app.
sammy2255
Sounds like Tiktok has actually banned US users then, as well as US banning Tiktok (being removed from the App store)
DrBenCarson
Sounds like TikTok has decided to not break US law
herpderperator
People can always "just."
FriedPickles
Yes. Or visit TikTok.com in the browser, even if their region is set to US.
DrBenCarson
If I understand correctly, GPS and phone number would also need to be outside the US
int_
If I could remember correctly Apple forces you to reset your iCloud account when you change regions.
bluerobotcat
You can keep your purchases these days.
Though I when last changed countries I did find that I lost some purchases. I would guess it can happen when an item is not available in the new country.
There’s a rate limit on how often you change countries and you’ll need a payment method from the country you want to change to (e.g. a credit card issued in that country, the address on the card doesn’t matter).
You’ll also need to cancel e.g. your Apple TV+ subscription before you can switch.
marban
Do not change the country of your account.
marban
No, not for the App Store account — which can be a different one. Once you've downloaded an app with a different account, the credentials will be stored and you can switch back to the native one; you'll also get regular updates. I do this all the time for US-only apps on an EU phone (e.g. Google Voice).
rkagerer
I'm pretty sure I changed regions once on my old iPhone over a decade ago and it was fairly seamless.
Maybe someone who's done it more recently can comment?
It would be brutal if what you say is true. Simply moving is not something a user would expect to reset their whole account.
And if purchases were lost I would think it would be pretty strong grounds to bring a lawsuit against the company (especially if the apps were bought prior to any attempts by Apple to write in clauses permitting what'd amount to theft).
Scoundreller
Going to be fun to see what an everyone-but-US social media platform looks like.
Twitter was fun for the few hours when it got hacked and they shutdown all of the "verified" accounts: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Twitter_account_hijacking
Wonder how Meta's stock will do on Monday
viewtransform
I predict with high confidence there will be no change to Meta's stock on Monday.
OJFord
The smug replies you're getting are because Monday 20 Jan happens to be a bank holiday (Martin Luther King's birthday) in the US (so markets closed).
stonesthrowaway
> Wonder how Meta's stock will do on Monday
My guess is the price won't budge on Monday.
kurthr
Well, Tiktok is already banned in Pakistan, India, and China so that's over 3Billion people.
selimthegrim
It’s got 62 million users in Pakistan how is it banned.
DrBenCarson
This has probably been priced in for a while
Related ongoing thread:
TikTok goes dark in the US - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42753396 - Jan 2025 (312 comments)