A highly publicized ban of TikTok by the U.S. led to other apps getting caught in the crossfire, including a game featuring Marvel superheroes. Here's a look at what happened and what the executive order signed by President Donald Trump means for the game's future.
What Happened: The Supreme Court recently upheld a ban on TikTok in the U.S., following a congressional ruling that parent company ByteDance would have to divest the U.S. division of the company by Jan. 19.
While TikTok went dark briefly over the weekend, an executive order signed by Trump provided an additional lifeline for ByteDance for 75 days.
The game uses Marvel characters from the comic book company owned by Walt Disney Co (NYSE:DIS).
"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 18," Second Dinner said previously.
Second Dinner Chief Development Officer Ben Brode told followers on social media that no warning was given to the company or Nuverse that their app would be part of the ban.
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Why It's Important: The ban of ByteDance apps was a large talking point mainly around TikTok, but several other apps were hurt by the ruling and are now affected.
Along with Marvel Snap, here are some other apps that ByteDance owns or controls that faced a similar fate.
- Lemon8: social media platform
- CapCut: video editing software
- Gauth: artificial intelligence homework aid
- Hypic: photo editing software
- Lark: enterprise collaboration platform
Based on the timing of the ban still pending, these apps and the Marvel game could continue to be disallowed in app stores and could go dark in the future.
Second Dinner is ready to ensure this doesn't happen again by making changes.
"Marvel Snap is back online in the U.S. But to make sure this NEVER happens again, we're working to bring more services in-house and partner with a new publisher. This is the start of a new era for Marvel Snap." the company shared on social media.
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