Apple, Google remove TikTok from stores as app halts service in U.S.

Apple and Google removed TikTok from its app stores Saturday night, in accordance with a law that requires China’s ByteDance to remove the social app or face an effective ban in the United States.

Apple’s App Store and TikTok’s removal from the Google Play store means that people in the US can no longer download the popular short-form video app onto their devices. The removal of the app comes after the Supreme Court on Friday unanimously upheld the Protection of Americans from Foreign Adversaries Controlled Applications Act, which President Joe Biden signed in April. TikTok on Friday announced its service it would go darkwhich means it will stop working for Americans unless the Biden administration intervenes.

On Apple’s App Store, a message saying “App not available” appears on the old TikTok app installation page.

“This app is currently not available in your country or region,” the message said.

“We’re sorry, the requested URL was not found on this server,” said a message on the TikTok page previously hosted in the Google Play store.

Some users who visited the TikTok app and website on Saturday were greeted with a message that read: “Sorry, TikTok is not available right now.”

“A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, this means you can’t use TikTok for now,” the notice said. “We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to restore TikTok once he takes office.

Lemon8, another ByteDance service, also displayed a notice letting users know that it was not available in the U.S. The app had shot up the charts recently, becoming one of the most popular free apps on iOS .

“Sorry, Lemon8 is not available right now,” the notice states

The law requires that service providers no longer support TikTok in the United States if ByteDance has not completed a “qualified divestment” of the app by Sunday. As a result, Apple, Google and Oracle could face stiff penalties for not adhering to the law. Apple and Google first distributed the app through their app stores while Oracle provides cloud computing services to TikTok and he said in June that the law would hurt his business.

After the decision of the Supreme Court, Shou Chew, CEO of TikTok said that the use of TikTok is a First Amendment right and added that more than 7 million American businesses use it to make money and find customers.

“Rest assured, we will do everything in our power to ensure that our platform thrives as your online home for unlimited creativity and discovery, as well as a source of inspiration and joy for years to come ” said Chew in a TikTok video.

Chew also thanked President-elect Donald Trump, who earlier he asked the Supreme Court at pause the implementation of the law and allow his administration “an opportunity to pursue a political resolution of the questions at issue in the case.” Chew it expected to participate Trump’s inauguration in Washington on Monday, together with the heads of technology companies including Meta, AmazonApple and Google.

Trump arrived in Washington on Saturday night. His transition team did not immediately respond to the shutdown of TikTok. Trump on Friday said the Supreme Court’s decision was expected “and everyone should respect it.”

“My decision on TikTok will be made in the not too distant future, but I must have time to review the situation. Stay tuned!” Trump he wrote in a post on their social networking app Truth Social.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Saturday acknowledged TikTok’s claim that it was going dark and characterized it as a “stunt.”

“We have stated our position clearly and frankly: the actions to implement this law will pass to the next administration,” said Jean-Pierre. “So TikTok and other companies have to take any concerns with them.”

Trump said NBC News on Saturday said it would “probably” give TikTok a 90-day extension of Sunday’s deadline, and that it would “probably announce” a decision on Monday.

“I think that would be, certainly, an option that we would look at,” Trump said in the phone interview. “The 90-day extension is something that will most likely be done, because it’s approved. You know, it’s approved. We’re going to look at it carefully. It’s a very big situation.”

Artificial intelligence startup Perplexity AI on Saturday submitted an offer for TikTok that will result in the launch of the AI-powered search engine combined with TikTok’s US operations and new capital partners, CNBC. reported.

Entrepreneur Frank McCourt’s Internet advocacy group Project Freedom announced on January 9 that it had submitted a proposal to buy TikTok from ByteDance for undisclosed terms. McCourt told CNBC on Friday that “we are, I believe, the only bidder” that meets the criteria necessary to distract the technology from the Chinese algorithm.

WATCH: : Congress calls for an extension of the ban on TikTok.