Following a win at the Australian Open that allowed her to reach the quarterfinals, American tennis star Coco Gauff lamented the U.S. government’s ban of the social media app TikTok, writing “RIP TikTok USA” on a camera lens after winning 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 over Belinda Bencic. TikTok, a popular social media video platform where Gauff had over 750,000 followers, was shut down in the U.S. on Saturday evening following prolonged U.S. government efforts against the China-based app on grounds of national security.
While TikTok shut down its service to users based in the United States, President-elect Donald Trump said via a statement on Truth Social that he plans to issue an executive order to allow TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to find an approved U.S. buyer. The app’s message to U.S. users states that “We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office.”
“It’s really sad. I’ve been on the app since it was called Musical.ly,” Gauff said in a news conference afterwards. “I love TikTok. It’s like an escape. I honestly do that before matches. I guess it will force me to read books more, be more of a productive human, probably. Maybe it’s a blessing in disguise.”
The Supreme Court unanimously upheld legislation to force ByteDance to sell TikTok or be shut down in the United States on Friday on concerns over the app collecting vast swaths of U.S. user data that could be handed over to the Chinese government through coercion. In a statement on Sunday afternoon, TikTok announced it was in the process of restoring service in the United States ahead of President Trump’s inauguration on Monday.
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