TikTok says it will go dark on Sunday unless Biden intervenes

TikTok said its services will go dark on Sunday without a guarantee from the Biden administration that it will not punish Apple, Google and other service providers if they support the app.

“Unless the Biden administration immediately issues a definitive statement to satisfy the most critical non-enforcement service providers, TikTok will unfortunately be forced to go dark on January 19,” TikTok said in a statement on Friday.

The statement indicates that TikTok’s US user base, which the company claims is over 170 million, will not be able to use the service when they open the app or website on Sunday.

TikTok issued the statement after the Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Friday to uphold a law that requires service providers to no longer support its app in the United States if parent company ByteDance fails to complete a “qualified divestment” of the app by Sunday. As a result, Apple, Google and Oracle can face severe penalties if they do not comply with the law.

“The statements issued today by both the Biden White House and the Department of Justice have not provided the necessary clarity and assurance to the service providers integral to maintaining TikTok’s availability to over 170 million Americans,” TikTok said in its statement.

However, Biden’s term ends on Monday, when President-elect Donald Trump begins his second term in the White House. Trump, who previously supported a TikTok ban, later reversed course. In December, Trump asked Supreme Court to pause the law’s implementation and give his administration “an opportunity to pursue a political resolution of the issues at issue in the case.”

In a Friday post on his social media app Truth Social, Trump wrote: “My decision on 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 says that TikTok “should remain available to Americans, but only under American ownership.”

“Given the sheer 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 release that the decision “allows the Justice Department to prevent the Chinese government from weaponizing TikTok to undermine US national security.”

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