TikTok will reportedly shut down its US app completely on Sunday

Piglets, you better try your last slop before it’s too late. TikTok reportedly plans to shut down its app to US users on Sunday if the Biden administration’s law forces the company to sell itself not stopped by the Supreme Court or Congress.

The information is reporting that TikTok has made the decision to turn off the lights on January 19, rather than limping along as some expected.

Technically speaking, TikTok can continue to function for users who already have the app installed. Using TikTok will not be illegal, but service providers in the United States will not be allowed to work with the social media company. That means Apple and Google will have to remove TikTok from their respective app stores, and cloud hosting providers like Oracle, which tried to help TikTok isolate its US data from China-based employees, will have to stop to operate their servers.

TikTok has not been banned in other parts of the world, and the company told US officials in a recent memo that after the ban it will there is still work to be done. After all, TikTok is extremely popular around the world, not just in America, and it will continue to be business as usual outside the country. In theory, it could continue to run the application for US users from a foreign infrastructure. But again, it will be difficult for TikTok to continue in the United States when it will not be available for downloads or updates.

However, there were some people who believed that the app would continue to run until it became too outdated to function. But according to The informationTikTok chose to come out as a martyr, allowing users to immediately see the consequences of the ban. An in-app pop-up will reportedly give users more information about why the app they know and love is no longer functional.

Gizmodo reached out to TikTok for comment, but did not hear back.

Banning TikTok outright can be a net positive if you believe that research shows that social media is harmful to teenagers. But one of the other social media giants is likely to take its place—YouTube, Instagram, and Snapchat all have their own competing versions of short-form video products. And in recent days, some TikTok users have protested the impending ban by signing up for a similar Chinese short-form video app called RedNotewhich was already the source of some amazing content— which means a TikTok ban probably won’t stop Zoomers from frying their brains with mindless scrolling. They’ll just do it somewhere else.

Perhaps one of the funniest results of the TikTok ban is the eventual posting of Zoomers online longing for their “Chinese spy”, a reference to the claim that China is using TikTok to spy on Americans.

holy cow i just realized this app is responsible for the 2024 video pic.twitter.com/NPdBCc3sSO

— rat king 🐀 (@MikeIsaac) January 14, 2025

TikTok isn’t banned, but rather the US government wants it to change ownership, fearing that Chinese parent company ByteDance could be forced to comply there to influence the content Americans see, or to submit personal data. If TikTok ends up being sold to a new owner, like Elon Musk, it could continue to operate. Already in 2020 the US government similarly forced the Chinese owner of gay dating app Grindr to sell the app to US investors on national security grounds. TikTok has repeatedly insisted it will not sell to a new owner, in part saying such a move to separate it from the global app would be too technically complex. The Chinese government probably won’t be happy about it either.

TikTok has long denied that the Chinese government has any control over its operations, but has failed to allay the concerns of US officials. Recent reports indicate that the Chinese government is considering a selling TikTok to Elon Muskwhich undermines the idea that the Chinese government has no influence over it. President-elect Donald Trump has urged the Supreme Court to delay the ban until he can take office and negotiate a deal, and powerhouses worry the ban could dramatically hurt their bottom lines. For its part, TikTok has firmly stated that it would rather shut down the app for Americans than sell; may ultimately choose to surrender.

Ironically, the Biden administration reportedly allowed some State Department officials to keep using TikTok for the purposes of international diplomacy. Ban for you, not me.