People are scrambling to download TikTok after the Trump administration issued an order banning it from app stores
Photo by Jens Kalaene/picture alliance via Getty Images
People are rushing to download TikTok after the Trump administration announced that the app would be banned from app stores by Sunday, Sept. 20.
The app shot up to the second slot on the Apple App Store charts Friday morning following the announcement.
According to the Trump administration's announcement, people will no longer be able to download TikTok or its updates after Sunday, and US companies will no longer be able to host TikTok servers after Nov. 12.
These restrictions can be lifted before then if "the national security concerns posed by TikTok [are] resolved," according to the order.
The Trump administration announced on Friday that TikTok would be banned from US app stores by Sunday. Now, people appear to be rushing to download the app before the ban goes into effect.
TikTok shot to the second-highest slot on Apple's App Store on Friday morning. It had hovered around the fourth slot for most of the week prior, according to analytics firm App Annie. Downloads have been more consistent on the Google Play store, with the app remaining the third most popular free app as of Friday morning.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced Friday morning that, as of Sunday, TikTok will be banned from US app stores, and that it will be blacklisted from being hosted on US servers November 12. People who already have the app downloaded will still be able to access it at least until the November deadline, but won't be able to install updates. WeChat, which was also targeted in the order, will have all uses banned starting Sunday.
It's not clear whether a potential deal with a US company could save TikTok from the ban — cloud storage company Oracle was reportedly in talks to close a deal on partial ownership of the app.
In the wake of Ross's announcement, people started rushing to download TikTok before the ban went into effect.
—Neil Hart (@iamriplash) September 18, 2020
—Bianca (@Bianca_Robinson) September 18, 2020
TikTok's weekly average users have been steadily climbing in recent weeks, rising from 50 million in mid-July to more than 53.5 million today, according to App Annie. That comes on the heels of a year of rapid growth — the current number of users is 75% higher than it was in January, with most of the app's gains made in March.
Read the original article on Business Insider
