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TikTok said its services would be shut down on Sunday without assurances from the Biden administration that it would not punish Apple, Google and other service providers if they support the application.
“Unless the Biden administration immediately provides a definitive statement to satisfy the most critical service providers ensuring non-enforcement, TikTok will unfortunately be forced to go dark on January 19,” TikTok said. in a statement Friday.
The statement said TikTok’s U.S. user base, which the company says exceeds 170 million, will not be able to use the service when they open the app or website on Sunday.
TikTok released the statement after the The Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Friday to enforce a law requiring service providers to no longer support its app in the United States if parent company ByteDance fails to make a “qualified divestiture” of the app by Sunday. As a result, Apple, Google and Oracle face heavy penalties if they do not comply with the law.
“The statements released today by the Biden White House and the Department of Justice failed to provide the clarity and assurance needed by service providers who are integral to maintaining TikTok’s availability for more 170 million Americans,” TikTok said in its statement.
However, Biden’s term ends on Monday, when the president-elect Donald Trump begins his second term in the White House. Trump, who previously supported banning TikTok, later reversed course on the issue. In December, Trump request the Supreme Court for suspend the application of the law and give his administration “the opportunity to seek a political resolution of the issues at issue in this matter.”
In a post Friday on his social media app Truth Social, Trump wrote: “My decision regarding TikTok will be made in the not too distant future, but I need time to review the situation. Stay tuned! “
Earlier Friday, the Biden administration issued a statement saying TikTok “should remain available to Americans, but simply under American ownership.”
“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.
Attorney General Merrick Garland and Lisa Monaco, his deputy, said in a statement release that the decision “allows the Justice Department to prevent the Chinese government from using TikTok as a weapon to undermine U.S. national security.”
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