TikTok warns it will ‘go dark’ without clarity over court ruling
The US Supreme Court upheld a federal law banning the app unless it is sold by its China-based parent company.
TikTok said it will have to “go dark” in the US this weekend unless the outgoing Biden administration assures the company it will not enforce a shutdown of the popular app.
On Friday, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the federal law banning the app unless it is sold by its China-based parent company.
The Supreme Court held that the risk to national security posed by TikTok’s ties to China overcomes concerns about limiting speech by the app or its 170 million users in the United States.
President-elect Donald Trump vowed that he could negotiate a solution while the administration of President Joe Biden has signalled it would not enforce the law — which was passed with overwhelming bipartisan support — beginning Sunday, his final full day in office.
“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,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement, noting that actions to implement the law will fall to the new administration.
TikTok released a statement late on Friday saying “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.”
“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,” the statement said.
A sale does not appear imminent and, although experts have said the app will not disappear from existing users’ phones once the law takes effect, new users will not be able to download it and updates will not be available.
That will eventually render the app unworkable, the Justice Department has said in court filings.
Mr Trump, mindful of TikTok’s popularity and his own 14.7 million followers on the app, finds himself on the opposite side of the argument from prominent Senate Republicans who fault TikTok’s Chinese owner for not finding a buyer before now.
The president-elect said in a Truth Social post shortly before the decision was issued that TikTok was among the topics in his conversation Friday with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
TikTok chief executive Shou Zi Chew, who is expected to attend Mr Trump’s inauguration on Monday, used the app to thank the incoming president for “his commitment to work with us to keep TikTok available”.
It is unclear what options are open to Mr Trump The law allowed for a 90-day pause in the restrictions on the app if there had been progress toward a sale before it took effect.
Solicitor general Elizabeth Prelogar, who defended the law at the Supreme Court for the Biden administration, told the justices last week that it is uncertain whether the prospect of a sale once the law is in effect could trigger a 90-day respite for TikTok.
The US has said it is concerned about TikTok collecting vast swaths of user data, including sensitive information on viewing habits, that could fall into the hands of the Chinese government through coercion.
Officials have also warned the algorithm that fuels what users see on the app is vulnerable to manipulation by Chinese authorities, who can use it to shape content on the platform in a way that is difficult to detect.
TikTok points out that the US has not presented evidence that China has attempted to manipulate content on its US platform or gather American user data through TikTok.
Mr Biden signed the legislation into law in April. The law was the culmination of a yearslong saga in Washington over TikTok, which the government sees as a national security threat.
TikTok, which sued the government last year over the law, has long denied it could be used as a tool of Beijing.
A three-judge panel made up of two Republican appointees and a Democratic appointee unanimously upheld the law in December, prompting TikTok’s quick appeal to the Supreme Court.
Without a sale to an approved buyer, the law bars app stores operated by Apple, Google and others from offering TikTok beginning Sunday. Internet hosting services also will be prohibited from hosting TikTok.
