Coco Gauff pays tribute to TikTok at Australian Open, sees silver lining

Heritage Foundation senior research associate Daniel Cochrane discusses the future of TikTok as the ban goes into effect and President-elect Donald Trump considering a 90-day extension.

Coco Gauff celebrated her Australian Open victory over Belinda Bencic with a nod to TikTok as the popular app was made unavailable for Americans back home.

Gauff wrote on a camera lens "RIP TikTok USA" with a broken heart after defeating Bencic, 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 to move to the quarterfinals of the first Grand Slam event of the season. Gauff had more than 750,000 followers before the app was cut off.

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Coco Gauff writes "RIP Tik Tok USA" after defeating Belinda Bencic at the Australian Open in Melbourne, Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake)

"I could not access it after my match. I honestly thought I would be able to get away with it because I was in Australia," she told reporters after the match, via ESPN. "Hopefully it comes back.... It's really sad. I've been on the app since it was called Musical.ly. 

"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."

TikTok was officially made unavailable to American users late Saturday night. Anyone with the app was hit with a message that read, "Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now.

"A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now.

Coco Gauff returns a shot from Belinda Bencic at the Australian Open in Melbourne, Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

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