JUST IN: TikTok suspends app within U.S.

By Isa Isawade

On Sunday, TikTok suspended its app in the United States (U.S.) as the law banning the app in America took effect.

According to global reports, the popular app has over 170 million monthly American users.

President Biden signed the bill into law in April 2024.

The law bans new downloads from Apple’s App Store and the Google Play app store, and also makes it “unlawful” to update the app.

This means existing users could keep the app on their phones, but it would never update.

TikTok is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance.

The law banning TikTok requires ByteDance to divest its U.S. operations to remain operating in States.

The chief concern U.S. lawmakers say they have with TikTok is that it could double as a spyware app for the Chinese communist government; TikTok, according to Chinese Law, is required to share user data if asked to do so.