TikTok Faces US Shutdown as Supreme Court Upholds Ban
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TikTok warned on Friday that it will be forced to "go dark" in the United States on Sunday unless the Biden administration intervenes, Reuters reports. The company's warning follows a Supreme Court ruling upholding a law that bans TikTok if its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, fails to divest its US operations.
The court's unanimous decision, issued on Friday, creates immediate uncertainty for the popular short-video platform and its 170 million American users. However, the app's fate may ultimately rest in the hands of former President Donald Trump, who has vowed to take action to salvage TikTok upon his return to the White House on Monday.
"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.
The White House has declined to comment on the situation.
The law, passed by a bipartisan majority in Congress last year and signed by Biden, mandates that companies like Apple, Google, and Oracle cease providing services to TikTok if ByteDance does not sell its US operations by the deadline. Despite numerous challenges to the legislation, the Supreme Court has upheld its constitutionality.
While ByteDance has taken limited steps towards divesting, Trump has indicated that he will intervene to protect TikTok's US presence. "My decision on TikTok will be made in the not too distant future, but I must have time to review the situation," Trump posted on social media.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is scheduled to attend Trump's inauguration on Monday. Trump has also revealed that he discussed TikTok with Chinese President Xi Jinping in a recent phone call.
The TikTok saga has been marked by concerns among US leaders about the national security implications of the app's Chinese ownership, particularly in light of heightened trade tensions between the US and China. Lawmakers and the Biden administration have expressed concern that Beijing could exploit TikTok to collect vast amounts of data on American users for purposes of harassment, recruitment, and espionage.
"TikTok's scale and susceptibility to foreign adversary control, together with the vast swaths of sensitive data the platform collects, justify differential treatment to address the government's national security concerns," the Supreme Court stated in its unsigned opinion.
Despite the impending shutdown, TikTok's future in the US remains uncertain. While the Biden administration has emphasized that TikTok could continue operating if it is freed from Chinese control, the White House has also indicated that they will take no action to prevent the app's shutdown.
The law, which prohibits certain service providers from supporting TikTok and other foreign-controlled apps, has left major tech companies like Apple, Google, and Oracle in a difficult position. These companies have not commented on the situation, and the Justice Department has said that implementing and ensuring compliance with the law "will be a process that plays out over time."
TikTok, however, has argued that these statements lack clarity and assurance to the service providers, which are crucial to maintaining the app's availability to its vast user base. The possibility of a buyer emerging, or Trump invoking a law to protect TikTok's continued operation in the US, further complicates the situation.