Coco Gauff wrote “RIP TikTok USA” and drew a damaged coronary heart on a digital camera lens upon reaching the Australian Open quarterfinals Sunday after the favored app utilized by 170 million Americans stopped working within the United States.
The TikTok app was eliminated Saturday night from outstanding app shops, together with those operated by Apple and Google, whereas the corporate’s web site advised customers that the short-form social media video platform was now not accessible. The blackout started simply hours earlier than a federal ban on TikTok took impact.
Gauff, who has greater than 750,000 followers on TikTok, mentioned Sunday that she would most likely have extra time to pursue different pursuits with the app inaccessible on her telephone in Melbourne.
“I truthfully thought I’d have the ability to get away with it as a result of I used to be in Australia,” mentioned Gauff, who beat Belinda Bencic 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 within the fourth spherical. “I assume it is one thing to do with my quantity. I do not know. I’ve to perform a little research.
“Hopefully it comes again. It’s actually unhappy. I like TikTok. It’s like an escape. I truthfully do this earlier than matches. I assume it’s going to drive me to learn books extra, be extra of a productive human most likely. Maybe it is a blessing in disguise.”
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump mentioned he would “most certainly” give TikTok a 90-day reprieve from the ban after taking workplace Monday.
Users opening the TikTok app on Saturday encountered a pop-up message stopping them from scrolling movies that learn, “Sorry, TikTok is not accessible proper now.”
“A legislation banning TikTok has been enacted within the U.S.,” the message mentioned. “Unfortunately meaning you possibly can’t use TikTok for now. We are lucky that President Trump has indicated that he’ll work with us on an answer to reinstate TikTok as soon as he takes workplace.”
TikTok additionally advised its customers to remain tuned. Gauff added Sunday that she had a sense TikTok would in some way come again.
Defending Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka, who lives in Miami and is a big TikTok fan, mentioned she is also hoping for a fast decision.
The Belarusian has over 500,000 followers on TikTok and recreated one in all her viral dance movies with followers on Rod Laver Arena after her opening-round victory every week in the past.
“This is not one thing we are able to management and I hope they are going to determine it out, as a result of I like TikTok,” she mentioned.
In Washington, lawmakers and administration officers have lengthy raised issues in regards to the app, which they see as a nationwide safety menace resulting from its Chinese possession. TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a know-how firm based mostly in Beijing that operates the well-known video enhancing app CapCut and Lemon8, each of which had been additionally unavailable for service Saturday night.
The federal legislation required ByteDance to chop ties with TikTok by Sunday or face a nationwide ban. The statute was handed by Congress in April after it was included as a part of a high-priority $95 billion package deal that supplied overseas support to Ukraine and Israel. President Joe Biden shortly signed it, after which TikTok and ByteDance shortly sued on First Amendment grounds.
While defending the legislation in court docket, the Biden administration argued it was involved about TikTok gathering huge swaths of U.S. consumer information that would fall into the arms of the Chinese authorities by way of coercion.
Officials have additionally warned the algorithm that fuels what customers see on the app is weak to manipulation by Chinese authorities, who can use it to form content material on the platform in a method that is troublesome to detect. But so far, the U.S. has not publicly supplied proof of TikTok handing consumer information to Chinese authorities or tinkering with its algorithm to learn Chinese pursuits.
The Supreme Court unanimously selected Friday the chance to nationwide safety posed by TikTok’s ties to China overcomes issues about limiting speech by the app or its 170 million customers within the United States.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
