By Sagar V. Mankar 
TikTok has resumed its operations in the United States following a brief 24-hour shutdown that affected millions of users and unexpectedly impacted several popular mobile games. The service restoration comes after intense negotiations and signals from President-elect Trump about a potential path forward for the social media platform.
The social media giant had initially pulled its services late Saturday night in response to the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision upholding a Congressional ban on the app. However, the landscape shifted rapidly when President-elect Trump indicated his willingness to work toward a solution, suggesting a possible 90-day extension period for ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, to explore sale options.
However, the interruption extended beyond just the main TikTok app, affecting several ByteDance-owned properties including popular games like Marvel Snap and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang.
Marvel Snap, the widely popular virtual card game developed by U.S.-based Second Dinner but published by ByteDance’s subsidiary Nuverse, has been pulled from U.S. app stores. The game’s removal caught many players and even its developers off guard. Second Dinner quickly released a statement addressing the situation: “Unfortunately, Marvel Snap is temporarily unavailable in U.S. app stores and is unavailable to play in the U.S. This outage is a surprise to us and wasn’t planned.” The game remains available on Steam, but U.S. users report login failures, likely due to integration with Apple and Google accounts.
Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB), developed by ByteDance-owned MOONTON, is also affected. In a statement, MOONTON described the situation as a “temporary suspension” and assured players they are “exploring ways to bring the game back.” However, no timeline has been provided.
Other Impacted Game Titles:
- One Punch Man – The Strongest (FingerFun Limited)
- Watcher of Realms (MOONTON)
- Mobile Legends: Adventure (MOONTON)
- Land of Empires: Immortal (Nuverse)
- Mission EVO (Nuverse)
With the TikTok ban now lifted, these games might gradually restore their services in the U.S. However, none of the developers or publishers have responded yet. For affected gamers, especially those who have spent money on microtransactions, the situation remains uncertain for them.
The original ban was implemented under the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA), which targeted applications with alleged ties to the Chinese government. This situation mirrors India’s 2020 suspension of TikTok and MLBB, which remains in effect today.