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About availability of TikTok and ByteDance Ltd. apps in the United States
- kelseyfrog 2y agoDoes this also remove the app from devices?
- herpderperator 2y agoIf you read the article, no.
- renewiltord 2y agoUnfortunately, I did not read the article and so they did remove the apps.
- koolba 2y agoFrom the article: > If you already have these apps installed on your device, they will remain on your device. But they can’t be redownloaded if deleted or restored if you move to a new device. In-app purchases and new subscriptions are no longer possible. But regardless, good riddance.
- sunshinerag 2y agoNo. As stated in the article. But you can’t start or renew subscriptions
- DrBenCarson 2y agoNo, Apple has no way to remove installed apps from a phone, but does it disable any payments and app updates
- arcticbull 2y agoSure they do, to allow them to remove malware. They don't use it often however.
- DrBenCarson 2y agoSource?
- 1una 2y agohttps://www.macrumors.com/2008/08/06/apples-ability-to-deactivate-malicious-app-store-apps/ https://www.macrumors.com/2008/08/06/apples-ability-to-deact...
- 1over137 2y ago"has no way to remove installed apps"? Sure they do. But it's not a line they've crossed up to now.
- lukax 2y agoSo people could just use a non-US VPN and a non-US Apple account to download the apps?
- herpderperator 2y agoPeople can always "just."
- DrBenCarson 2y agoIf I understand correctly, GPS and phone number would also need to be outside the US
- FriedPickles 2y agoYes. Or visit TikTok.com in the browser, even if their region is set to US.
- int_ 2y agoIf I could remember correctly Apple forces you to reset your iCloud account when you change regions.
- marban 2y agoNo, not for the App Store account — which can be a different one. Once you've downloaded an app with a different account, the credentials will be stored and you can switch back to the native one; you'll also get regular updates. I do this all the time for US-only apps on an EU phone (e.g. Google Voice).
- bluerobotcat 2y agoYou can keep your purchases these days. Though I when last changed countries I did find that I lost some purchases. I would guess it can happen when an item is not available in the new country. There’s a rate limit on how often you change countries and you’ll need a payment method from the country you want to change to (e.g. a credit card issued in that country, the address on the card doesn’t matter). You’ll also need to cancel e.g. your Apple TV+ subscription before you can switch.
- croddin 2y agoEven if you already have TikTok on you phone, you can’t use it now and get the following message: > 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. > 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!
- boredatoms 2y agoDoes that hold for VPNs, or does it use app store download location?
- jkaplowitz 2y agoThat’s dishonest of ByteDance. The legislated ban doesn’t mean the existing US users can’t use it right now. This message simply means that ByteDance made a business decision to shut it down for the existing US user base. I understand several reasons they might be making that business decision, including supportability reasons. I also get why they might be choosing to explain the situation dishonestly. But understanding their potential motivations doesn’t make a dishonest explanation any less dishonest.
- whitehexagon 2y agoIf only our climate emergency had such a hero to swoop in and save the planet. Pretty sure I saw a headline on HN last week that we already blew through the 1.5C limit, I doubt it got a fraction of the 2000+ hits this story got yesterday.
- daemoens 2y agoThe app was shutdown a couple of hours ago in the US and this was the message all TikTok users saw when they opened the app.[1] The same guy who pushed for a ban massively last year, is going to save the app despite the security concerns he and most of our government said they had. If only we knew what happened in that classified briefing that made them vote together across party lines. [1] https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxbusiness.com/foxbusiness.com/content/uploads/2025/01/720/405/4edf26d5-tiktok.jpg?ve=1&tl=1 https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxbusiness.com/foxbusiness.c...
- afavour 2y agoThey’re massaging his ego and quite honestly it might be their best strategy. A whole lot of people out there want their TikTok back and you can bet Trump would love to call the press conference announcing that he, and only he, did the greatest deal and got the app back. Classified briefing be damned.
- _2d30 2y agoIf you want another angle beyond "massaging egos", look into the Trump <> Jeff Yass connection: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Yass https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Yass
- csomar 2y agoThis is what happens when the process of law gets thrown out of the window and instead power is negotiated by people at the top. As someone who lived in a dictatorship -> democracy -> dictatorship, seeing tech CEOs pilgrimage to the Trump house, the US is critically close to turning into a dictatorship.
- Andys 2y agoThis is exactly what we saw when Sept 11 happened (over 20 years ago) and the Republicans decided to invade Iraq and carry out all sorts of extra-judicial mischief. I started to think the world was going to end but its ticking along in the same manner which has now coloured my views.
- talldatethrow 2y agoGreat, maybe this will add more energy to making things browser based instead of app.
- hidelooktropic 2y agoIt won’t.
- sub7 2y agoThis is number 1 bullshit
- DrBenCarson 2y agoHere’s why I’m okay with it: China doesn’t allow American social media either
- sub7 2y agoChina didn't invent the transistor or the internet either, because they do stupid shit like clamping down arbitrarily instead of just telling the losers to try harder. Artificially suppressing competition is the most anti-capitalist and anti-American thing I've ever seen, no matter how shitty this particular app may be.
- DrBenCarson 2y agoMedia companies can’t be owned by non-citizens either (see: Rupert Murdoch’s journey to become a US citizen) All ByteDance has to do is sell for a generous valuation
- Teever 2y agoUnder what circumstances would you consider it acceptable to ban apps from a geopolitical adversary?
- sub7 2y ago0 - don't like seeing apps delivered exclusively via stores that can implement these daft bans, ecosystem taxes etc. also ignore people yapping about China being such a huge adversary when the 2 countries do close to a trillion USD yearly in trade, it's all lip service to get their competition killed unfairly so they don't have to innovate or an attempt to scare the govt/some LPs into funding their most often useless faux-nationalist bullshit without oversight.
- 2y ago
- Scoundreller 2y agoGoing to be fun to see what an everyone-but-US social media platform looks like. Twitter was fun for the few hours when it got hacked and they shutdown all of the "verified" accounts: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Twitter_account_hijacking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Twitter_account_hijacking Wonder how Meta's stock will do on Monday
- stonesthrowaway 2y ago> Wonder how Meta's stock will do on Monday My guess is the price won't budge on Monday.
- viewtransform 2y agoI predict with high confidence there will be no change to Meta's stock on Monday.
- kurthr 2y agoWell, Tiktok is already banned in Pakistan, India, and China so that's over 3Billion people.
- selimthegrim 2y agoIt’s got 62 million users in Pakistan how is it banned.
- kurthr 2y agoIt's been banned and unbanned in Pakistan at least 4 times. It is permanently region banned in China and India, and has been for years.
- DrBenCarson 2y agoThis has probably been priced in for a while
- OJFord 2y agoThe smug replies you're getting are because Monday 20 Jan happens to be a bank holiday (Martin Luther King's birthday) in the US (so markets closed).
- wodenokoto 2y agoMaybe we can update the title to reflect that its in America and not world wide?
- DrBenCarson 2y agoFair, done. Thank you for the suggestion
- Lammy 2y agoNo opinion on TikTok itself as I've never used it, but I hope this wakes more people up to the fact that they're at the whim of the app gatekeepers and makes them demand the ability to run what they want on hardware they supposedly own.
- lostlogin 2y agoHow do you propose that it works when Apple has control Molly with US law?
- Lammy 2y agoACAB
- nemothekid 2y agoNote: the “app gatekeepers” in this context is the United States Government.
- Lammy 2y agoYes, and Apple's App Store is the mechanism of that control.
- zhann_dc 2y agoHey, in the EU we don't have that crappy Apple Intelligence, but at least we have alternative App Stores. :o) Governments can go both ways!
- diebeforei485 2y agoThe mechanism of control is actually the hosting, ISP, domain registrar, etc. Oracle shut TikTok's servers down, because they didn't want to risk being fined a trillion dollars.
- DrBenCarson 2y agoUh the law specifically makes it illegal to distribute ByteDance apps Apple and Google are at the whim of Congress here
- djtango 2y agoIs this only in the US? I assume douyin is available in China?
- daemoens 2y agoDouyin is comepletely separated from TikTok. The apps cannot legally be the same. They do not want their citizens and foreigners talking on the same platform.
- vFunct 2y agoSo is TikTok not going to bother with a WebApp that connects to non-US servers? Is the web capable of all native app functions yet? What’s missing?
- hippari2 2y agoSNS apps don't bother with a web version now I'm afraid, Twitter / Bluesky seems like the exception.
- BuildItBusk 2y ago[dead]
- roncesvalles 2y agotiktok.com was their full-featured webapp. I guess trying to skirt the law weakens their case even more so they decided to fully comply in both letter and spirit. Even VPNs don't work.
- rf15 2y agoAh, the great and classic play of "politician wants to insert his name into everything to get recognition when things get better". This is Modi's rice all over again.
- blackeyeblitzar 2y agoIf Trump doesn’t enforce the ban, he will lose all credibility with his own base.
- brianbest101 2y ago[dead]
- Toutouxc 2y agoI’m afraid that this mechanism of Trump losing credibility hasn’t been implemented.
- Jcowell 2y agoShort of actually , multiple, live stream evidence of Trump sexually abusing a child. He will never lose credibility.
- AceJohnny2 2y agoHuh, I didn't realize Marvel Snap fell under that umbrella ban. I play that game during lunch breaks, it's a good card game with 2-3 minute matches, developed by Hearthstone luminaries (though it's never been clear to me what gameplay benefit you got from season passes, ie what their business model is. I was unaware of security concerns like TikTok that Tracks Everything it can) Upon launching the game on iOS, the following message appears: > Unfortunately, MARVEL SNAP is temporarily unavailable on US stores and is unavailable to play in the US. > This outage is a surprise to us and wasn't planned. > MARVEL SNAP isn't going anywhere. We're actively working on getting the game up as soon as possible and will update you once we have more to share. I guess we'll see how temporary it is.
- daemoens 2y agoAre there any other services or companies besides ByteDance affected by the bill?
- diebeforei485 2y agoThe bill specifically says "ByteDance/TikTok bad", and says for other companies the President needs to make a written determination. So in theory it can affect any other company based in China, provided the President makes that determination.
- enraged_camel 2y agoHow is marvel snap affiliated with bytedance?
- 1xdevnet 2y agoThe game is published by Nuverse, which is a ByteDance subsidiary.
- freddie_mercury 2y agoIt is published by a company that ByteDance owns. Presumably they are switching to a new publisher and will be back soon.
- ljlolel 2y agoIn other news, people are flooding Hangout.fm music discovery social app
- tokioyoyo 2y agoIs this the first time we're getting a social media with no US-users? This is actually kinda interesting, as US-based content dominates a good chunk of international videos.
- freddie_mercury 2y agoNo, there are lots of them, including obviously all the ones in China like Douyin and Weibo but also Bigo Live, Zalo, and others.
- tokioyoyo 2y agoThe first two doesn’t have real traction outside of China. I meant like TikTok right now is basically everyone but US and India.
- nradov 2y agoIt's not the first time. For one example, VKontakte is a social network mainly used in Russia and has very few US users.
- tokioyoyo 2y agoIt doesn't have users outside of Russian. My point was it's everyone except US and China. Well, I guess it's not the case anymore, but it had a good run.
- russli1993 2y agoTens of thousands of companies using Tiktok shop or other Bytedance services is suddenly in-operable as well. Jobs loses, layoffs coming. The power of digital dictatorship, USA government can kill a company, the entire ecosystem, all of the companies, users, entities relying on the digital application and service with stroke of pen. Every country and person on the planet should have vested interest to reduce choke points that can be exploited by USA government. So USA government shenanigans can't just ruin the invention you created, your jobs, your peaceful Sunday.
- mr_00ff00 2y agoAs a counter argument (and not saying this is right) This creates a vacuum of time that Americans now can use on other tech apps. American leisure hours is a finite resource, in a way TikTok competes with Netflix, Meta, and even sports. That’s revenue in other areas.
- dkjaudyeqooe 2y agoClosing TikTok in the US isn't going to kill Bytedance. Every company is subject to the laws of every country where it operates. I don't know why you're singling the US out. Ultimatley Bytedance is responsible for their own behavior and the consequences.
- dang 2y agoRelated ongoing thread: TikTok goes dark in the US - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42753396 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42753396 - Jan 2025 (312 comments)
- beeflet 2y agoThere's a lot of debate in the media about whether or not the banning of bytedance/tiktok is an infringement of the 1st ammendment rights of users or if it represents a threat to the security of the country. I just think that governments shouldn't be able to easily take down internet services like this. If it was just a normal web service with reasonably competent userbase, it could continue operating a hidden service over tor or some other mixnet. Instead, the government can effectively shut down the service by sending takedown orders to app stores and ISPs, which are naturally monopolistic and have little reason to stand up to regulators and act on behalf of their user's interests. People have locked themselves into walled gardens and this is the end product. The town square has been privatized and controlled. Own your computers, people! Or someone else will.
- notacoward 2y agoThe US constitution prohibits bills of attainder, i.e. targeted toward specific individuals. The US has also decided that corporations are people, so the concept should apply to them as well. Therefore, by their own reasoning this is unconstitutional. I have very mixed feelings about this. On the one hand I hate hypocrisy (which this is) and rarely hesitate to call it out. On the other hand I believe "corporate personhood" is absolute bollocks. I resolve this in my own mind by saying that the ban on bills of attainder can be extended to corporations and other entities without declaring them persons. Laws should be statements of principle, timeless and equally applicable to all, not one-off actions targeted toward specific entities.
- tasuki 2y ago> But they can’t be redownloaded if deleted or restored if you move to a new device. Amazing news! It's a plot to stop people buying new phones, hence saving the planet a little bit...
- eddyg 2y agoTikTok users should’ve been posting/begging non-stop for ByteDance to sell their U.S. operations once the law passed. That’s all the law was asking for. ByteDance chose not to, and now everybody thinks the U.S. is banning apps “just because”. Where is the “all ByteDance had to do was sell, and we’d still have our TikTokShops” outrage, which is where any outrage should be focused.
- nradov 2y agoWhy would ByteDance care what TikTok users think?
- penjelly 2y agome, Canadian, open tiktok for the first time in months and the 2nd reel is Canada vs US war & how China will help Canada. No way you can convince me this isn't a propaganda machine.
- chvid 2y agoApple should do a new note explaining why they put the apps back on the App Store without a changed law or a formal delay of the ban.
- eksu 2y agoThey have not done this currently. The apps are still unavailable. (6AM EST 1/20/25)
- ImJamal 2y ago> But they can’t be redownloaded if deleted or restored if you move to a new device. I understand not being able to redownload the app, but you can't restore the app if you move to a new device? I had no clue Apple checked which apps you were restoring. On Android you could get the apk and reinstall just fine without Google stopping you.