The app had more than 170 million monthly users in the U.S. The black-out is the result of a law forcing the service offline unless it sheds its ties to ByteDance, its China-based parent company.

TikTok is set to be banned in the US on 19 January after the Supreme Court denied a last ditch legal bid from its Chinese owner, ByteDance. It found the law banning the social media platform did not violate the first amendment rights of TikTok and its 170 million users,

With over 170 million users in America, TikTok is one of the main sources of entertainment for countless US citizens of all ages. The app began as a source of short, bite-sized videos but has since grown into a major competitor for similar sites like YouTube,