Emergency services receive calls from distraught TikTok fans

Numerous worried TikTok users reached out to emergency services when the app got prohibited in the U.S., causing it to stop operating and being taken down from both the Apple App Store and Google Play.

Following a lengthy legal battle, the U.S. implemented a ban on the use of TikTok starting from January 18, causing disappointment among many users who had grown fond of the popular application.

As a gamer, I’ve found myself abruptly cut off from my gaming world, and there are whispers online that some of us have reached out to emergency services in desperation. This news has since spread like wildfire across the internet.

One such call was broadly disseminated on January 19. An audio recording of the event was initially published by the CrimeWatchMpls account on Twitter, and it gained popularity when shared by Journalist Nick Sortor.

As I’m immersed in my gaming world, I get a call from an Anoka County dispatcher. They’re asking for a wellness check on someone who sounds pretty mixed up, and from what I can gather, they’re a big fan of TikTok.

2/
Audio. Address redacted.

— CrimeWatchMpls (@CrimeWatchMpls) January 19, 2025

On January 18th, an audio clip that appeared to have been sent by the Ravalli County Sheriff’s Office was additionally shared on social media platforms.

In the recording, there’s a discussion between two people expressing their astonishment over receiving an unexpected emergency call about TikTok being turned off. One person on the call is audible saying something like “Got it. He wants it restored. [Something unclear].

The other replies, “Copy… I’ll gain my composure and figure it out.”

10-4, he told me he wants it returned, and I questioned whether he was genuinely dialing 9-1-1 because TikTok went offline. He confirmed that he was serious. (In this context, “it” refers to something previously mentioned, and the numbers are a shorthand language often used in radio communication.)

“Affirm, she went down at 2100 [hours],” the call concluded.

It’s evident that many people who love using TikTok are struggling to move on since its ban in the U.S. In anticipation of the ban, American users have been turning to the Chinese app known as RedNote (also called Redbook or Xiaohongshu) as a replacement for TikTok. However, this alternative might not last long as legal experts predict that RedNote could also be banned under similar circumstances.

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2025-01-20 01:56