Time may be running out for TikTok. The company behind the wildly popular social media platform says it will “go dark” on Sunday unless it receives clear assurances from government officials that the US ban due to take effect this that day will not be applied.
In a Friday evening post on social media platformTikTok said statements released by the White House and Department of Justice “failed to provide the necessary clarity and assurance” to service providers required to make TikTok available in the United States.
“Unless the Biden administration immediately provides a definitive statement to satisfy the most critical service providers ensuring non-enforcement, unfortunately TikTok will be forced to disappear on January 19,” the statement said.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday rejected TikTok’s request to overturn a law passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden last year, which would effectively ban the app in the United States if the parent company of TikTok, China-based ByteDance, was not selling it to a buyer deemed suitable by U.S. authorities on Sunday, January 19.
The nation’s highest court rejected TikTok’s argument that the ban would infringe on the U.S. company’s free speech rights, as well as those of its 170 million active U.S. users. Instead, he sided with the government that the ban is not about free speech at all but rather about property and national security.
The White House released a statement Friday saying Biden’s stance on TikTok hasn’t changed. He still believes TikTok should remain accessible to Americans, but under ownership that addresses the government’s national security concerns.
“Given the simple fact of timing, this administration recognizes that actions to implement the law must simply fall to the next administration, which takes office on Monday,” the statement said.
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Lawmakers from both political parties have long expressed concerns that TikTok could pose a national security threat and could be used by the Chinese government to spy on Americans or spread disinformation to advance China’s agenda.
TikTok continues to deny these accusations. Before votes in Congress earlier this year, TikTok rallied its American userscalling on them to urge their representatives on Capitol Hill to vote against a ban. But the measure ultimately passed by large majorities in both houses of Congress and was signed by Biden.
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But new President Donald Trump, who advocated for a ban during his first term, now says he no longer favors it. Before the closing arguments, Trump’s lawyers filed an amicus brief in the case. They did not take sides but instead asked the court to delay the ban to give Trump time to find a “political resolution.”
In a video posted Friday afternoon on TikTok and other social media platforms, TikTok CEO Shou Chew did not say what TikTok plans to do, or what its U.S. users will see when they open their apps after the deadline. Instead, he thanked Trump for committing to working with TikTok to find a solution that will allow the app to continue operating in the United States.
“We are grateful and happy to have the support of a president who truly understands our platform – one who has used TikTok to express his own thoughts and perspectives, connecting with the world and generating more than 60 billion views of his content,” Chew said.
So what’s next for lawmakers and TikTok? Here’s what you need to know.
What does the law do?
The law aims to force ByteDance to sell TikTok to a buyer that U.S. authorities agree with, as well as ensure that ByteDance no longer has access to U.S. user data or any control over the TikTok algorithm that decides which videos US users see.
TikTok has had nine months to comply, hence the January 19 deadline when the government could require its app to be removed from US app stores. The president could grant a 90-day extension. Earlier this week, two Democratic senators announced thelegislation that would have given TikTok nine additional monthsbut it was blocked by the Republicans.
TikTok has long said that a sale is not an option. As he announced in his Friday X post, TikTok could indeed choose to “go dark” if the ban goes into effect. It’s also possible that the app is slowly dying. It wouldn’t shut down, but would no longer be available in the Google and Apple app stores and current users wouldn’t be able to get software updates, eventually making the app too buggy to use.
Biden, who signed the bill establishing these requirements, remains in office until Inauguration Day on January 20.
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What’s next?
After initially calling for a ban during his first presidency, Trump said during the 2024 campaign that he did not support such a ban and pledged to “save TikTok”, although he did not specify how he would do so. would do.
At a press conference in December, Trump highlighted the role TikTok played in the election, crediting it with helping to harvest young people’s votes.
“TikTok has had an impact, that’s why we’re looking at it,” Trump told reporters. “I have a little hot spot in my heart. I’ll be honest.”
Asset said in March on CNBC’s Squawk Box, although he still considered the app a danger to national security, he no longer thought it should be banned, stating: “There are a lot of young kids on TikTok who would become crazy without her.”
Trump added that banning TikTok would only strengthen the power of Facebook, which he called the “enemy of the people.”
In September, Trump pledged to “save TikTok“, according to an Associated Press report. But during a interview broadcast last month on Meet the PressTrump did not directly say if and how he would help TikTok avoid a ban.
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Who opposed the TikTok ban?
Free speech and digital rights groups, as well as some security experts, have long opposed the idea of a ban, saying targeting TikTok does nothing to solve the problems wider use of social media. Several have filed briefs with the High Court in favor of TikTok.
Instead, they argue, lawmakers would be wise to pass comprehensive digital privacy laws that would protect Americans’ personal information by regulating the ability of all social media companies to collect, share and sell it.
David Greene, director of civil liberties at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, co-author an amicus brief submitted to the court late last month, said the EFF was “deeply disappointed” that the court chose to overlook free speech issues in the case and focus instead on the “fragile concerns of government on data privacy.
He pointed out that America’s enemies have no shortage of other ways to steal, extract or buy Americans’ data.
“Banning or force-selling a social media app will do virtually nothing to protect Americans’ data privacy – only comprehensive consumer privacy legislation can achieve this goal,” Greene said in a statement of the EFF.
