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Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!TikTok said its services will go dark on Sunday without a guarantee from the Biden administration that it won’t punish Apple, Google and other service providers if they support the app.
“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,” TikTok said in a statement on Friday.
The statement indicates that TikTok’s American users base, which the company claims is over 170 million, will not be able to use the service when they open the app or website on Sunday.
In response, the White House on Saturday called TikTok’s threat to shut down in the U.S. a “stunt” and said it sees no reason for TikTok or other companies to take any action in the next few days before the Trump administration takes office on Monday, Jan. 20.
“We have seen the most recent statement from TikTok. It is a stunt,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement. “We have laid out our position clearly and straightforwardly: actions to implement this law will fall to the next administration. So TikTok and other companies should take up any concerns with them.”
TikTok issued its statement after the Supreme Court on Friday ruled unanimously to uphold a law requiring that service providers no longer support its app within the U.S. if parent company ByteDance fails to carry out a “qualified divestiture” of the app by Sunday. As a result, Apple, Google and Oracle could face tough penalties if they fail to adhere to the law.
“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,” TikTok said in its statement.
However, Biden’s term ends on Monday, when President-elect Donald Trump begins his second term in the White House. Trump, who previously supported a TikTok ban, later flip-flopped on the matter. In December, Trump asked the Supreme Court to pause the law’s implementation and allow his administration “the opportunity to pursue a political resolution of the questions at issue in the case.”
In a Friday post on his social media app Truth Social, Trump wrote, “My decision on TikTok will be made in the not too distant future, but I must have time to review the situation. Stay tuned!”
Earlier Friday, the Biden administration had issued a statement saying TikTok “should remain available to Americans, but simply under American ownership.”
“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,” the statement said.
Attorney General Merrick Garland and Lisa Monaco, his deputy, said in a release that the decision “enables the Justice Department to prevent the Chinese government from weaponizing TikTok to undermine America’s national security.”
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