Marvel Snap goes offline in the USA as part of the Bytedance apps ban

thesixthaxis.com:

From today, mobile users in the United States of America cannot access any apps that are owned by the Chinese company ByteDance Ltd. ByteDance Ltd has ceased operations following the upholding of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which bans any foreign adversary apps from essentially operating in the USA. The biggest app shutdown is TikTok, which was the primary target of the legislation. However, in the app US users will see that ByteDance is hoping the app will be back online, saying they hope President Trump will work with them.

One unexpected app shutdown is Marvel Snap, which developers Second Dinner and publisher Nuverse did not expect. Nuverse is a subsidiary of ByteDance Ltd, and falls under the ban brought in with the legislation. Ben Brode, co-founder of Second Dinner, released the following statement regarding the banning of Marvel Snap on social media, including BlueSky.

“Unfortunately, MARVEL SNAP is temporarily unavailable in U.S. app stores and is unavailable to play in the U.S. This was a surprise to Second Dinner and our publisher Nuverse. We’re actively working on getting the game up as soon as possible and will update you once we have more to share.”

In a follow up post, Ben has said that US players using VPNs should be able to get around the ban and continue playing Marvel Snap. Apple has also created a support page regarding the Bytedance apps ban, and listed the following apps as no longer available in the US.

It is currently unknown if the ban will remain in place, with incoming President Trump stating he is likely to give TikTok, and by extension ByteDance, a 90 day reprieve when he takes office. That would overrule the Supreme Court’s ruling of upholding the ban. This is a change in the message from Trump’s previous term in office where he publicly stated opposition to TikTok and was in support of a ban, as reported by CBC.

Source: BlueSky, Apple, CBC.