TikTok says it will go offline on Sunday, January 19th, if the Biden administration does not intercede.
The corporation confirmed previous reports that it will be “forced to go dark” on the 19th unless the outgoing administration issues a “definitive statement” guaranteeing its “most critical service providers” that they will not be held accountable for breaking the law. TikTok’s hosting partners include Amazon and Oracle, as well as Apple and Google, which distribute the app through their own app stores.
TikTok’s announcement follows Friday’s Supreme Court decision upholding the rule prohibiting the app unless its Chinese parent firm, ByteDance, divests its ownership share. TikTok CEO Shou Chew made an appeal to President-elect Donald Trump in a video shortly after the Supreme Court verdict, but did not provide any indication of what might happen when the rule takes effect at midnight on Saturday.
Unfortunately for TikTok, the White House has already stated that it intends to defer the fate of the app to Donald Trump, who has promised to save it and will be sworn in as president on Monday, January 20th. Trump stated on Friday that he spoke with China’s President Xi Jinping on “balancing trade, fentanyl, TikTok, and many other subjects.”
“President Biden’s position on TikTok has been clear for months, including since Congress sent a bill in overwhelming, bipartisan fashion to the President’s desk: TikTok should remain available to Americans, but simply under American ownership or other ownership that addresses the national security concerns identified by Congress in developing this law,” a statement from the White House read. “Given the sheer fact of timing, this Administration recognizes that actions to implement the law simply must fall to the next Administration, which takes office on Monday.”
Meanwhile, the Department of Justice, which is in charge of implementing the TikTok ban by fining its US service providers $5,000 per user who has access to the app, has stated that it still supports the prohibition.
“Authoritarian regimes should not have unfettered access to millions of Americans’ sensitive data,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said on Friday. “The Court’s decision affirms that this Act protects the national security of the United States in a manner that is consistent with the Constitution.”
As the prohibition deadline approaches, officials who voted in favor of it have begun to backtrack, claiming that ByteDance should be given more time to divest. According to The New York Times, Senator Chuck Schumer warned President Biden that granting the ban would “damage his legacy.”
You can read TikTok’s full statement about shutting down below:
The statements issued today by both the Biden White House and the Department of Justice have failed to provide the necessary clarity and assurance to the service providers that are integral to maintaining TikTok’s availability to over 170 million Americans.
Unless the Biden Administration immediately provides a definitive statement to satisfy the most critical service providers assuring non-enforcement, unfortunately TikTok will be forced to go dark on January 19.
