Marvel Snap's TikTok Ban Controversy Explained

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Many players logged into the app on the evening of January 18, 2025, only to be met with a message stating that the app had been banned in the United States. Players in the US were told they would be unable to log into or download it from their devices' app storesfor the duration of the ban. While the related TikTok ban was well-covered and generally expected, the ban was much more of a surprise. The message read almost exactly like a truncated version of the TikTok ban notification, stating that the app had been banned and was unavailable in the US.

But while TikTok came back online the afternoon of the following day, was down for more than a full 24 hours. The unexpected ban caused a ripple effect throughout the game's community and development team, and may have already led to changes to the collectible card game. Here's what really happened with the ban, and what to expect going forward.

and TikTok were both banned as part of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA). Passed by Congress in April 2024, PAFACA makes it illegal for certain mobile apps to be distributed, maintained, or hosted in the United States if the President determines them to be a national security risk owned and operated by a "" of the United States, unless the app's parent company successfully divests from that "." The only company mentioned by name in the bill is ByteDance Ltd. — the Chinese parent company of both TikTok and NuVerse, the publisher of .

To build strong decks in Marvel SNAP, players must keep up with a rapidly changing meta with diverse archetypes and new cards introduced weekly.

In short, went offline due to an act of Congress that declared it a national security risk, accusing it of collecting data for the Chinese government — an allegation TikTok has denied. Still, this led to the brief banning of several apps owned or operated by ByteDance in the US, including TikTok,, the social media site Lemon8, and the editing software