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TikTok says it plans to go offline on Sunday, January 19th if the Biden administration doesn\u2019t intervene.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The company confirms earlier reporting that it will be \u201cforced to go dark\u201d<\/a> on the 19th unless the outgoing administration provides a \u201cdefinitive statement\u201d assuring its \u201cmost critical service providers\u201d that they won\u2019t be held liable for breaking the law. Those providers include Apple and Google, which together distribute TikTok through their app stores, and its hosting partners, which include Amazon and Oracle.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n TikTok\u2019s statement follows Friday\u2019s Supreme Court ruling<\/a> that upheld the law banning the app unless its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, divests its ownership stake. Shortly after the Supreme Court\u2019s ruling, TikTok CEO Shou Chew appealed to<\/a> President-elect Donald Trump in a video but didn\u2019t give any indication of what might happen when the law goes into effect at midnight on Saturday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Unfortunately for TikTok, the White House has already made clear that it intends to punt<\/a> the fate of the app to Donald Trump, who has promised to save it<\/a> and is set to be sworn in as president on Monday, January 20th. Trump said on Friday<\/a> that he spoke with China President Xi Jinping about \u201cbalancing trade, fentanyl, TikTok, and many other subjects.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cPresident Biden\u2019s position on TikTok has been clear for months, including since Congress sent a bill in overwhelming, bipartisan fashion to the President\u2019s 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,\u201d the White House said in a statement<\/a> on Friday. \u201cGiven the sheer fact of timing, this Administration recognizes that actions to implement the law simply must fall to the next Administration, which takes office on Monday.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Meanwhile, the Department of Justice, which is tasked with enforcing the TikTok ban by fining its US service providers $5,000 per user with access to the app, has signaled that it\u2019s still behind the ban.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cAuthoritarian regimes should not have unfettered access to millions of Americans\u2019 sensitive data,\u201d Attorney General Merrick Garland said on Friday<\/a>. \u201cThe Court\u2019s decision affirms that this Act protects the national security of the United States in a manner that is consistent with the Constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n As the ban deadline gets nearer, politicians who voted for it have started flipping by arguing that ByteDance should have more time to divest<\/a>. According to The New York Times<\/em><\/a>, Senator Chuck Schumer told President Biden that allowing a ban to happen would \u201cdamage his legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n You can read TikTok\u2019s full statement about shutting down below:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n 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\u2019s availability to over 170 million Americans.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n