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TikTok shuts down in the United States hours ahead of a ban

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CNN — 

TikTok went offline in the United States Saturday night, less than two hours before a ban was slated to go into effect. The extraordinary blackout prevents access to one of the world’s most popular social media apps – one that had been used by 170 million Americans.

Visitors to the app were met with a message reading: “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.”

TikTok’s action comes after the Supreme Court on Friday upheld a ban that was passed with broad bipartisan support in Congress and signed into law in April by President Joe Biden. The law prevents American companies from hosting or serving content for the Chinese-owned social media platform unless it sells itself to a buyer from the United States or one of its allies.

But TikTok may not be gone for long. The company suggested it could be back soon – perhaps as early as Monday.

“We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office,” the company posted in its pop-up message to users who opened the app beginning late Saturday night. “Please stay tuned!”

President-elect Trump said he will “most likely” delay a ban on TikTok for 90 days after he takes office on Monday, adding that he has not made a final decision in a phone interview with NBC Newson Saturday.

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

“If I decide to do that, I’ll probably announce it on Monday,” he added.

The blackout from TikTok — and the suggestion that it could soon restore its service — is the latest twist in a saga that’s dragged on for months, leaving the fate of the app in limbo.

The app also has disappeared from Apple’s App Store and the Google Play store. And other apps owned by TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance – including CapCut – also displayed a similar message Saturday night.

Lawmakers said TikTok’s ties to China and its access to reams of data posed a threat to national security.

Many US users told CNN they were bracing for an end to the app, including influencers and other small businesses that said they depended on the platform for a living. Still, they said, they held out hope the app would somehow be saved.

But the Supreme Court’s decision dashed hopes of a last-second judicial assist.

Some of the companies that operate app stores and run computer servers are said to be concerned that they will be held liable for violating terms of the ban. Those service providers pledged to stop carrying the app to avoid legal consequences, a person familiar with companies’ discussions told CNN.

Meanwhile, Trump — who first warned of TikTok’s dangers five years ago — is now casting himself as the app’s savior. Earlier this month, on his Truth Social account, he posted stats about his own popularity on TikTok and asked, “Why would I want to get rid of TikTok?”

TikTok’s CEO Shou Chew has met with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago home in the weeks leading up to the ban taking effect and is expected to attend Trump’s inauguration on Monday.

TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment late on Saturday.

A 90-day extension?

The law passed last year allows the president to delay the ban from going into effect by 90 days but requires evidence that parties working to arrange a sale of TikTok to a US-owned company have made significant progress.

But TikTok’s owner, ByteDance, has rejected would-be buyers. The company has cited its popularity among American users, and its value to small businesses across the country, as it fights to stay online without any change in ownership.

After the Supreme Court ruled, 9-0, to uphold the ban, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre signaled the administration wouldn’t enforce the law on Biden’s final day in office.

Due to the federal holiday weekend and the inauguration, “actions to implement the law simply must fall to the next administration,” she said.

But TikTok wasn’t satisfied by that statement. According to a person familiar with the matter, some service providers — companies like Google and Apple that would face exorbitant fines for allowing US access to TikTok once the ban takes effect — told TikTok they believed they were vulnerable under the law starting Sunday.

A person close to TikTok says “multiple critical service providers” indicated to TikTok that they would no longer carry the app or its data, which forced the app offline. The service providers cited fears that the ban might be enforced starting Sunday, despite the Biden administration’s signals to the contrary.

So TikTok took action to take the app down – at least for now.

The tmove, and the pop-up naming Trump, could put even more pressure on the president-elect to negotiate a solution in the days or weeks to come.

TikTok employees were also told by the company on Saturday that the situation was “disappointing” but that the company was working on a solution.

“We know this is disappointing for you not only as employees, but as users. However, 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 know our teams are working tirelessly to bring our app back to the U.S. as soon as possible,” read the message to employees.

A White House source reiterated to CNN that there will not be any fines by the Biden administration associated with keeping TikTok active on Sunday.

At the same time, however, some Biden officials are content with TikTok going dark for a day, since the law was passed with strong support from both parties.

The decision “is going to be made by the next president anyway,” Biden told reporters Friday.

TikTok’s final minute

On Saturday, the White House called TikTok’s warning about going dark a “stunt.”

“We see no reason for TikTok or other companies to take actions in the next few days before the Trump administration takes office on Monday,” Jean-Pierre said. “We have laid out our position clearly and straightforwardly: actions to implement this law will fall to the next administration. So TikTok and other companies should take up any concerns with them.”

A TikTok spokesperson had no immediate reaction to the statement from the White House.

The company said it expected service providers — like companies that operate servers full of videos — to restrict access to the app at 12:01 a.m. ET on Sunday.

On Apple and Google’s app stores, the most popular free apps for the past week have been TikTok-like apps, including two that are also owned by Chinese companies. One of them, photo-sharing app Lemon8, is owned by ByteDance, just like TikTok. But Lemon8 may have the same fate as TikTok in the future.

Given Trump’s public remarks about TikTok any blackout may not last long.

Trump is said to be considering issuing an executive order that could effectively pause the ban and provide some time to sort out a long-term solution.

But he will face pressure from multiple directions. Some Republican senators, like Josh Hawley of Missouri and Tom Cotton of Arkansas, remain strongly supportive of the ban.

“ByteDance and its Chinese Communist masters had nine months to sell TikTok before the Sunday deadline,” Cotton wrote on X. “The very fact that Communist China refuses to permit its sale reveals exactly what TikTok is: a communist spy app.”

Analyst Richard Greenfield of LightShed Partners, who has long followed the TikTok saga, anticipates that TikTok will ultimately stay online in the United States.

On Saturday, Perplexity AI, a San Francisco-based AI search-engine startup, confirmed to CNN that it submitted a bid to ByteDance to merge with TikTok.

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NASA finally sets a return date for its stranded astronauts

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  • READ MORE: Tim Peake reveals what life is REALLY like for NASA’s astronauts

NASA has finally set a return date for its stranded astronauts – and it seems the pair don’t have long to wait to come back to Earth.

Veteran astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were due to spend eight days on the International Space Station (ISS) but have been there for more than eight months after their Boeing Starliner spacecraft suffered propulsion problems.

Although their return craft has been docked with the station since September, Williams and Wilmore have been stuck while NASA prepares to send their replacements in the Crew 10 mission.

The mission was originally pushed back to late March, but the space agency now says it is ‘accelerating’ the launch to target Wednesday, March 12.

Crew 9, which includes Williams and Wilmore, will then spend a few days handing over to the new arrivals before making their way back to Earth.

The mission is scheduled to launch ‘pending mission readiness’, but further delays are possible if there is not an appropriate weather window.

Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, says: ‘Human spaceflight is full of unexpected challenges.

‘Our operational flexibility is enabled by the tremendous partnership between NASA and SpaceX and the agility SpaceX continues to demonstrate to safely meet the agency’s emerging needs.’

Wilmore and Williams first arrived at the ISS on June 5 last year aboard the Boeing Starliner spacecraft but became stranded after the experimental craft developed serious issues.

By the time the capsule arrived at the station, it had sprung a number of helium leaks, and five of its 28 thrusters had failed.

After weeks of tests, NASA ultimately decided that Starliner wasn’t safe enough to carry humans back to Earth and in September, the doomed spacecraft was sent home empty.

The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft they are scheduled to return on arrived later that month, but the pair must wait until March to use it.

Since Williams and Wilmore have become official members of NASA’s Crew 9 mission, they must wait to hand over with Crew 10 before leaving the station.

Originally, the Crew 10 mission was due to launch in February aboard a brand-new SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule.

However, the mission had to be delayed when it emerged that SpaceX was not able to complete the construction and testing of the new capsule on time.

NASA explains that this latest scheduling change comes after SpaceX agreed to use a Crew Dragon capsule called Endurance which has already been used three times.

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft was plagued by technical issues even before it launched. By the time it arrived at the ISS, it had sprung more helium leaks and five of its 28 thrusters had failed, leaving Williams and Wilmore stranded

 

SpaceX and NASA are now working together to assess the spacecraft’s hardware, refurbish the interior, and get it ready for flight.

The capsule will launch with NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov.

Crew 10 will then meet with Williams and Wilmore on the ISS for a brief handover period window in which they will be familiarised with ongoing scientific and maintenance projects.

Finally, Crew 9 will return home with NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore, Suni Williams, and Nick Hague alongside Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov.

Pending good weather conditions, the capsule should splash down off the coast of Florida.

This announcement comes after Donald Trump called for SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to ‘go get’ the stranded astronauts and blamed delays on former president Joe Biden.

In a statement posted to his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote: ”I have just asked Elon Musk and SpaceX to “go get” the two brave astronauts who have been virtually abandoned by the Biden administration.’

He added: ‘Elon will soon be on his way. Hopefully, all will be safe. Good luck Elon!!!’

Having now become part of the NASA Crew 9 mission, Williams (pictured) and Wilmore must wait until the Crew 10 mission arrives so that they can hand over to their replacement crew

 

The mission to collect the stranded astronauts has been accelerated after SpaceX agreed to use a previously used Crew Dragon capsule rather than a new spacecraft which was not going to be ready in time

 

This comes after SpaceX CEO Elon Musk (left) and Donald Trump (right) created confusion by claiming that Musk had been ordered to ‘go get’ the stranded astronauts, despite the mission being planned for months in advance

 

In response, Musk tweeted: ‘The @POTUS has asked @SpaceX to bring home the 2 astronauts stranded on the @Space_Station as soon as possible. We will do so.

‘Terrible that the Biden administration left them there so long.’

These statements spread widespread confusion on social media given that SpaceX had been tasked with bringing the pair home months ago by Biden administration.

Likewise, despite the most recent delays being caused by SpaceX, Musk has been quick to celebrate the accelerated timeline.

In a post on X Musk wrote: ‘They’re coming home.’

In January, Wilmore and Williams said their spirits were still high, adding that they had plenty of food and were enjoying their time on the space station.

Yet there has been growing concern for the pair’s health after images appeared to show Williams looking thin and gaunt.

Williams has pushed back against the claims, blaming her appearance of unusual fluid distribution in microgravity and claiming that she has actually gained muscle in her legs.

Pictures of mission commander Williams have since sparked health concerns due to her ‘gaunt’ appearance. Williams maintains that she has actually gained weight while in space and that her unusual appearance is due to ‘fluid shift’

 

But, in January, Williams admitted that she had forgotten what it was like to walk after 234 days in space.

‘I’ve been up here long enough, right now I’ve been trying to remember what it’s like to walk. I haven’t walked. I haven’t sat down. I haven’t laid down,’ she said during a video call with students at Needham High School in Massachusetts.

However, NASA maintains that their astronauts are trained for extended stays in space and that some deterioration of muscle function is entirely normal.

If Williams and Wilmore do return home in late March as expected, their mission will have lasted two months longer than a standard long-term ISS mission, which typically lasts six months.

While their protracted stay is notable, it has not yet surpassed Frank Rubio’s record-breaking 371 days aboard the ISS, which he completed in 2023 after the Russian spacecraft designated for his return developed a coolant leak.

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Outrage Across The Country As MTN Increases The Price Of 15GB Data From N2k To N6k

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Nigerians have expressed outrage as telecoms giant, MTN increased price of data, calls and other services.

On Tuesday morning, February 11, 2025, many subscribers in Nigeria took to social media to criticise the increase, calling it exploitative and unfair, especially amid rising economic hardships.

Apparently, the weekly data package of 15GB which initially cost N2,000 only days ago unexpectedly surged to a whooping N6,000

An user, @gbolahan2211 said: “Imagine MTN @MTNNG increasing their tariff 15gb overnight without prior notice to customers. This is no way to do things man. I even sent them a message and they told me cause they wanna serve me better. Damn!!”

Another user @GIFTy6286 wrote: “If they like they should increase it to 1m,we will survive”

@AfrokonnectNG reacted: “This sudden price increase from ₦2,000 to ₦6,000 for 15GB is wild! How are people supposed to cope with such an outrageous hike? Internet access is essential for work, education, and staying connected, yet it’s being priced like a luxury.

“At this rate, users may be forced to look for alternatives or reduce their data consumption drastically. MTN really needs to reconsider this move because it’s not sustainable for the average Nigerian. What do you think about this development?”

@Gorilla23mp asked: “But this is almost 200% increment, I thought they said it won’t be up to 100%?”

 

@TheSilvapr lamented; “Nigeria is a very difficult place to live in honestly. MTN waking up one day to increase their weekly 15gb data from 2k to 6k without prior warning is textbook insanity.

“That’s 24k in a month, almost the minimum wage of the country on data, bruh, this is hell.”

While the telecom giant has yet to comment on the situation, observations suggest it may have begun implementing the 50% tariff hike approved by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

Recall that on January 20, the NCC in a statement by its Director of Public Affairs, Reuben Muoka, said implentation of the 50% tariff hike will begin in February, adding that the adjustment, though lower than the over 100 per cent requested by some network operators, was arrived at taking into account ongoing industry reforms that will positively influence sustainability.

“These adjustments will remain within the tariff bands stipulated in the 2013 NCC Cost Study, and requests will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis as is the Commission’s standard practice for tariff reviews. It will be implemented in strict adherence to the recently issued NCC Guidance on Tariff Simplification, 2024.

“Tariff rates have remained static since 2013, despite the increasing costs of operation faced by telecom operators. The approved adjustment is aimed at addressing the significant gap between operational costs and current tariffs while ensuring that the delivery of services to consumers is not compromised”, the NCC said.

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TikTok sued over deaths of 4 children after viral challenge

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Parents of four British teenagers who believe that their children died after participating in viral trends (challenge) that circulated on TikTok in 2022 have sued the video-sharing platform.

According to the parents, the children, Isaac Kenevan, Archie Battersbee, Julian “Jools” Sweeney and Maia Walsh, died while attempting the trend called “blackout challenge”.

BBC reports that the US-based Social Media Victims Law Center filed the lawsuit on Thursday against TikTok and its parent company ByteDance on behalf of the children’s parents.

Meanwhile, searches for videos or hashtags related to the challenge on TikTok have been blocked since 2020.

TikTok had clarified that it prohibits dangerous content or challenges on the platform, and directs those who search for hashtags or videos to its Safety Centre.

The complaint was filed in the Superior Court of the State of Delaware on behalf of Isaac’s mum Lisa Kenevan, Archie’s mother Hollie Dance, Jools’ mother Ellen Roome and Maia’s dad Liam Walsh.

It claims the deaths were “the foreseeable result of ByteDance’s engineered addiction-by-design and programming decisions”, which were “aimed at pushing children into maximizing their engagement with TikTok by any means necessary”.

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