TikTok says it will go dark on Sunday, January 19 if the Biden administration doesn’t intervene.
The company confirms earlier reporting that it will “Forced to Darkness” 19 unless the outgoing administration provides a “definitive statement” to its “most critical service providers” assuring them that they will not be held responsible for violating the law. Those providers include Apple, Google, Amazon, and Oracle.
TikTok’s statement is as follows The decision of the Supreme Court on Friday which has upheld the law banning the app until its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, divests its ownership stake. Shortly after the Supreme Court’s decision, TikTok CEO Shou Chew appealed to President-elect Donald Trump in a video but gave no indication of what might happen when the law takes effect at midnight on Saturday.
Unfortunately for TikTok, the White House has already made it clear that it wants to hand the fate of the app over to Donald Trump, who has promised to save it and is set to be sworn in on Monday, January 20.
“President Biden’s position on TikTok has been clear for months, with Congress sending a bill to the president’s desk in overwhelming, bipartisan fashion: TikTok should remain available to Americans, but only to US-owned or otherwise owned companies. under which addresses identified national security concerns. by Congress in developing this legislation,” the White House said in a statement on Friday. “Given the reality of the times, this administration believes that actions to implement the law should fall to the next administration, which takes office on Monday.”
Meanwhile, the Department of Justice — which is tasked with enforcing the TikTok ban by imposing a $5,000 per user fine on service providers who access the app — has indicated it supports the law’s implementation.
“Authoritarian regimes should not have unfettered access to the sensitive data of millions of Americans,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said. said on Friday. “The Court’s decision confirms that the Act protects the national security of the United States in a way that is consistent with the Constitution.”
You can read TikTok’s full statement below:
Statements issued today by both the Biden White House and the Justice Department fail to provide the necessary clarity and assurance to service providers that are integral to maintaining TikTok’s availability to more than 170 million Americans.
Unless the Biden administration immediately provides a definitive statement to satisfy the most important service providers assuring non-enforcement, TikTok will unfortunately be forced to go dark on January 19.
