TikTok says its ban will 'go dark' if US government doesn't intervene

TikTok said it would be forced to “go dark” in the United States on Sunday unless the government intervenes before a ban takes effect.

In a statement Friday evening, he said the White House and Justice Department had “failed to provide necessary clarity and assurance to service providers who are integral to maintaining the availability of TikTok.” .

He said that unless the government intervened immediately to ensure the video app would not be punished for violating the impending ban, it would be “forced to disappear on January 19.”

The statement follows a Supreme Court ruling earlier Friday, which upheld a law banning the app in the United States unless its China-based parent company, ByteDance, sells the platform by Sunday.

Passed in April last year, the law states that ByteDance must sell the US version of the platform to a neutral party to avoid an outright ban.

TikTok has challenged the law, arguing that it violates the protection of free speech for its 170 million users in the country.

But the Supreme Court's ruling means the US version of the app will be removed from app stores and web hosting services unless a buyer is found in the coming days.

It was thought that the ban would not impact TikTok users who have already downloaded the app on their phones.

But since updates would become unavailable once the ban goes into effect, the app would eventually degrade and become unusable over time.

TikTok's new statement on Friday, however, suggests that it could become immediately unavailable to all existing users as well as those looking to download it.

Influencers and content creators posted videos on the app to bid farewell to their followers ahead of the impending ban.

One creator, Nicole Bloomgarden, told the BBC that not being on TikTok would amount to a significant pay cut, while another, Erika Thompson, said the platform's educational content would be the 'biggest loss' for the community.

Some users have announced where their content will be available next, including on the Chinese video app Red Note, which has so far been little used by American users.

President Joe Biden's term is set to end on Monday, and Donald Trump is set to be sworn in as the next president that day. The White House had said earlier that it would therefore be up to the new president to enforce the law.

Trump has indicated he is against the ban, after initially supporting the move. “My decision on TikTok will be made in the not too distant future, but I must have time to take stock of the situation,” he said on Friday.

He also revealed that he spoke to Chinese President Xi Jinping and discussed TikTok, among other topics.

In December, Trump said he had a “hot spot” for the app because it helped him with young voters in the 2024 election.

Trump's comments marked a reversal from his position during his first term as president, when he aimed to enact a similar ban through an executive order.

ByteDance has pledged not to sell TikTok and said it plans to shut down the app's U.S. operations on Sunday unless there is a reprieve.

Democratic and Republican lawmakers voted last year to ban the video-sharing app over concerns about its ties to the Chinese government. TikTok has repeatedly said it does not share information with Beijing.

The possible ban comes at a time when the United States is increasingly concerned about Chinese espionage.

Cybersecurity companies have suggested that the app is capable of collecting data on users beyond what they view on TikTok.

US Attorney General Merrick Garland said authoritarian regimes should not have “unfettered access” to Americans' data and that the ruling prevented China from “weaponizing TikTok to undermine US national security”.

China enacted a law in 2017 that requires Chinese nationals living abroad to cooperate with its intelligence apparatus.

But Beijing has denied pressuring companies to collect information on its behalf and criticized the ban. TikTok has repeatedly stressed that it was not asked for its data.

The app argued that the law endangered free speech and would hit its users, advertisers, content creators and employees. TikTok has 7,000 employees in the United States.

April 24, 2024: Biden signs the bipartisan TikTok bill, which gives Chinese parent company ByteDance six months to sell its majority stake or face being blocked in the United States.

May 7, 2024: TikTok files suit seeking to block the law, calling it an “extraordinary intrusion into the right to free speech.”

August 2, 2024: The U.S. government files a lawsuit against TikTok, accusing the social media company of illegally collecting data about children and failing to respond when parents tried to delete their children's accounts.

December 6, 2024: TikTok's attempt to overturn a law that would see it banned or sold in the United States starting in early 2025 is rejected by a federal appeals court.

December 27, 2024: President-elect Donald Trump asks the U.S. Supreme Court to delay the upcoming ban while he works on a “policy resolution.”

January 10, 2025: The nine Supreme Court justices hear from lawyers representing TikTok and content creators that the ban would violate free speech protections for the platform's more than 170 million users in the United States.

January 17, 2025: The United States Supreme Court upholds law that could lead to TikTok being banned within days on national security grounds.

January 19, 2025: Deadline for TikTok to sell its stake in the United States or face a ban. TikTok said it would “be dark” that day.

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