The entertainment world has reacted to the shutdown of TikTok in the United States, with some describing it as a “dystopian” moment.
The social media platform officially went dark in the country on Saturday (January 18) ahead of a Supreme Court deadline that had been set for Sunday.
“Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now. A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now,” was the message seen by users of the app after the shutdown.
“We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned!”
Trump has since said that a 90-day delay to the ban is “most likely” once he is sworn into office on Monday (January 20), arguing that it would be an “appropriate” course of action.
That has not stopped many from speaking out about the closure, however. Lizzo, a prolific TikTok user, took to Instagram to post a mock video mourning the platform. “In Loving Memory, Takesha “TikTok” Woods,” reads the post, citing today’s date and using TikTok’s inception date of 2016.
On the latest episode of Saturday Night Live, comedian Michael Longfellow also addressed the ban. “It’s the first political opinion I’ve ever had,” he joked. “I feel it is my responsibility to come out here and defend TikTok’s right to remain here in these United States.”
When Weekend Update co-host Michael Che suggested there might be legitimate reasons for the ban, Longfellow replied: “What, because it’s Chinese? So we’re just banning things because they’re from China now? Well you know who else was from China? That’s right, Jesus Christ. I thought he was Middle Eastern, but I saw it on a TikTok.” See the full skit below.
Internet personality James Charles also posted his reaction to the ban on Instagram. “I don’t know what to do!” he began. “Oh my god, I’ve already opened and closed the app probably six times already just to keep getting the same stupid holding message. This is so dystopian!”
“First of all I feel so pathetic that I’m freaking out like this over an application being unavailable on my phone, but also this has been a massive part of our lives for the last six years and normally when something happens I would get on TikTok to start complaining, and I can’t even do that!”
“Now I’m rooting for Trump?! Ewww! Make America great again, I guess…” he concluded.
Yesterday (January 18), Kesha posted a short clips of herself with the caption, “Tiktok may be temporary but TiK ToK is forever,” referencing her breakout 2009 single of the same name that spent nine weeks at Number One in the US.
Kesha shares new video:
“Tiktok may be temporary but TiK ToK is forever” pic.twitter.com/CgRGHo42HU
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) January 17, 2025
See other reactions to the TikTok shutdown below.
Omgggg even a vpn doesn’t work to access TikTok pic.twitter.com/6AiwXG8FJu
— 118 🚒 (@1llicitBuck) January 19, 2025
People outside the US are posting TikTok’s roasting Americans now that it’s banned here.
LMAO. pic.twitter.com/fnPbTAXELi
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) January 19, 2025
Reminder that Donald Trump was the one who originally wanted TikTok banned because people were making viral videos making fun of him injecting bleach pic.twitter.com/pQl1EefDD5
— David Leavitt 🎲🎮🧙♂️🌈 (@David_Leavitt) January 19, 2025
The future of the site was thrown into question when its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, lost an appeal last month against a US law seeking to ban it. ByteDance also said repeatedly that it was not willing to sell, although doing so would allow it to remain available in the country.
A Supreme Court ruling on Friday declared that the site would only remain available to Americans “under American ownership or other ownership that addresses the national security concerns identified by Congress in developing this law”.
With Trump’s inauguration set to take place on Monday (January 20), the outgoing Biden administration said that the timing was such that they would leave the implementation of the Court’s ruling to the incoming Trump government.
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