TikTok’s plan is to go offline on Sunday, January 19th if the Biden administration doesn’t intervene.
The company verifies previous reports indicating that it will be “forced to go dark” on the 19th unless the outgoing administration assures its “most critical service providers” that they won’t be held liable for breaking the law. These providers include Apple and Google, which distribute TikTok through their app stores, and its hosting partners, such as Amazon and Oracle.
Following Friday’s Supreme Court ruling upholding the law banning the app unless its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, divests its ownership stake, TikTok’s CEO Shou Chew appealed to President-elect Donald Trump in a video without indicating what may happen when the law goes into effect at midnight on Saturday.
Unfortunately for TikTok, the White House has made it clear that the fate of the app will be left to Donald Trump, who promised to save it and will be inaugurated as president on Monday, January 20th. Trump stated on Friday that he discussed with China President Xi Jinping about “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,” the White House stated in a release on Friday. “Due to timing, this Administration acknowledges that actions to enforce the law must be handled by the next Administration, which assumes office on Monday.”
