Coco Gauff wrote “RIP TikTok USA” and drew a broken heart on a camera lens upon reaching the Australian Open quarterfinals Sunday after the popular app used by 170 million Americans stopped working in the United States.
The TikTok app was removed Saturday evening from prominent app stores, including the ones operated by Apple and Google, while the company’s website told users that the short-form social media video platform was no longer available. The blackout began just hours before a federal ban on TikTok took effect.
Gauff, who has more than 750,000 followers on TikTok, said Sunday that she would probably have more time to pursue other interests with the app inaccessible on her phone in Melbourne.
“I honestly thought I’d be able to get away with it because I was in Australia,” said Gauff, who beat Belinda Bencic 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 in the fourth round. “I guess it’s something to do with my number. I don’t know. I have to do some research.
“Hopefully it comes back. It’s really sad. I love TikTok. It’s like an escape. I honestly do that before matches. I guess it’ll force me to read books more, be more of a productive human probably. Maybe it’s a blessing in disguise.”
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said he would “most likely” give TikTok a 90-day reprieve from the ban after taking office Monday.
Users opening the TikTok app on Saturday encountered a pop-up message preventing them from scrolling videos that read, “Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now.”
“A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S.,” the message said. “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.”
TikTok also told its users to stay tuned. Gauff added Sunday that she had a feeling TikTok would somehow come back.
Defending Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka, who lives in Miami and is a huge TikTok fan, said she also is hoping for a quick resolution.
The Belarusian has over 500,000 followers on TikTok and recreated one of her viral dance videos with fans on Rod Laver Arena after her opening-round victory a week ago.
“This isn’t something we can control and I hope they’re going to figure it out, because I love TikTok,” she said.
In Washington, lawmakers and administration officials have long raised concerns about the app, which they see as a national security threat due to its Chinese ownership. TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a technology company based in Beijing that operates the well-known video editing app CapCut and Lemon8, both of which were also unavailable for service Saturday evening.
The federal law required ByteDance to cut ties with TikTok by Sunday or face a nationwide ban. The statute was passed by Congress in April after it was included as part of a high-priority $95 billion package that provided foreign aid to Ukraine and Israel. President Joe Biden quickly signed it, and then TikTok and ByteDance quickly sued on First Amendment grounds.
While defending the law in court, the Biden administration argued it was concerned about TikTok collecting vast swaths of U.S. user data that could fall into the hands of the Chinese government through coercion.
Officials have also warned the algorithm that fuels what users see on the app is vulnerable to manipulation by Chinese authorities, who can use it to shape content on the platform in a way that’s difficult to detect. But to date, the U.S. has not publicly provided evidence of TikTok handing user data to Chinese authorities or tinkering with its algorithm to benefit Chinese interests.
The Supreme Court unanimously decided on Friday the risk to national security posed by TikTok’s ties to China overcomes concerns about limiting speech by the app or its 170 million users in the United States.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
