TikTok says it will go dark on Sunday unless Biden intervenes ‘immediately’
Updated: 9:33 PM EST Jan 17, 2025
TikTok says it will go dark on Sunday unless Biden intervenes ‘immediately’
Updated: 9:33 PM EST Jan 17, 2025
TikTok on Friday said that it would turn off more than 170 million Americans’ access to the super popular video app on Sunday unless President Joe Biden’s administration acts urgently to assure the company it will not be punished for violating the terms of its looming ban.The Supreme Court earlier in the day allowed a controversial ban to stand. Biden signed the bill in April, which was passed with strong bipartisan support in Congress. The law requires TikTok to sell to American buyers by Sunday or face a ban in the United StatesBut the Biden administration signaled it would leave enforcement of the ban to President-elect Donald Trump, who will be inaugurated on Monday, TikTok said that was not enough.”The statements issued today by both the Biden White House and the Department of Justice have failed to provide the necessary clarity and assurance to the service providers that are integral to maintaining TikTok’s availability to over 170 million Americans,” the company said in a statement Friday evening. “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.”Trump has suggested – but not outright stated – that he will not enforce the ban. He had asked the Supreme court to stay the bill so his incoming administration could work out a deal to sell TikTok to American buyers. But the Supreme Court rejected an appeal from the app’s owners that claimed the ban violated the First Amendment, allowing the ban to take place.So TikTok could turn itself off Sunday, only to turn itself back on at a later date if Trump gives it assurances it will go unpunished for violating the ban.
TikTok on Friday said that it would turn off more than 170 million Americans’ access to the super popular video app on Sunday unless President Joe Biden’s administration acts urgently to assure the company it will not be punished for violating the terms of its looming ban.
The Supreme Court earlier in the day allowed a controversial ban to stand. Biden signed the bill in April, which was passed with strong bipartisan support in Congress. The law requires TikTok to sell to American buyers by Sunday or face a ban in the United States
But the Biden administration signaled it would leave enforcement of the ban to President-elect Donald Trump, who will be inaugurated on Monday, TikTok said that was not enough.
“The statements issued today by both the Biden White House and the Department of Justice have failed to provide the necessary clarity and assurance to the service providers that are integral to maintaining TikTok’s availability to over 170 million Americans,” the company said in a statement Friday evening. “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.”
Trump has suggested – but not outright stated – that he will not enforce the ban. He had asked the Supreme court to stay the bill so his incoming administration could work out a deal to sell TikTok to American buyers. But the Supreme Court rejected an appeal from the app’s owners that claimed the ban violated the First Amendment, allowing the ban to take place.
So TikTok could turn itself off Sunday, only to turn itself back on at a later date if Trump gives it assurances it will go unpunished for violating the ban.
