In a surprising development today, the social media app TikTok, along with the popular online card game Marvel Snap, has been banned in the United States.
Now, unless you’ve been off the grid, you probably know that TikTok has been teetering on the edge of a U.S. ban for quite some time due to its refusal to sell part of its operations. Well, that day has come, and TikTok is officially banned. The reasoning behind this move might raise eyebrows, considering other platforms like Facebook are rarely flagged as security threats. But, as it stands, that’s the official decision, and it doesn’t leave much room for debate. What caught everyone off guard was the unexpected ripple effect: Marvel Snap got banned too. At first glance, this seems like an odd pairing, but it actually makes some sense once you realize that Nuverse, the publisher of Marvel Snap, is a subsidiary of ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok.
Marvel Snap’s developer, Second Dinner, seems as blindsided as the rest of us by this turn of events. They took to Twitter to share an update: “Unfortunately, Marvel Snap is temporarily unavailable in U.S. app stores and is unavailable to play in the U.S. In a surprise to Second Dinner and our publisher Nuverse, Marvel Snap was affected by the takedown of TikTok late on Saturday, January 18th. Marvel Snap isn’t going anywhere. We’re actively working on getting the game up as soon as possible and will update you once we have more to share.”
If you try launching the app, you’ll be greeted with a message confirming that the game “isn’t available right now,” while the team reassures players that they’re working diligently to bring it back online in the U.S. It’s puzzling how neither Second Dinner nor Nuverse saw this coming. For all fans of the game, patience is key, but rest easy knowing they’re on the case to bring your favorite card battles back to life.
