Pinoys in US express dismay as TikTok shuts down in America

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Published January 19, 2025 6:59pm

Filipinos in the United States have expressed dismay as TikTok shut down in America.

As seen in Dano Tingcungco's report in "24 Oras Weekend" on Sunday, Filipino siblings Zyler and Zzayra Lanic from California said that they were surprised they couldn't use TikTok on the night of January 18.

"Bigla siyang nag-stop, January 18 pa lang, and 9:00 pa lang po. So parang ang labo po ng nangyari kasi sabi nila January 19," Zyler said.

According to the siblings, TikTok is a big help in their studies.

"I don't know what to do or something. Like if I need to know about the American Revolution or something, I try to search it on social media, and it helps me to learn different things," Zzayra said.

For Zyler, he doesn't see any harm in TikTok.

"Wala naman po akong nakikitang parang harm sa TikTok. Like, mas marami po akong nakikitang harm dito sa America na puwede nilang i-ban, instead of TikTok. Kasi 'yung TikTok parang news din siya, like it's good for you," he said.

TikTok stopped working in the US at 7:30 p.m (California time) after the Supreme Court upheld the law banning the app on national security grounds.

President-elect Donald Trump said earlier in the day he would "most likely" give TikTok a 90-day reprieve from the ban after he takes office on Monday, a promise TikTok cited in a notice posted to users on the app.

TikTok, which is owned by China's ByteDance, told users attempting to use the app around 10:45 p.m. ET (0345 GMT): "A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the US 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. Please stay tuned."