TikTok says it would “go dark” in the US today, unless the US government provides assurances a new law calling for its ban would not be used to punish service providers.
“Unless the [US President Joe] 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 US Supreme Court on Friday upheld a law supported by Biden and the US Congress that requires the app’s owner ByteDance to either sell TikTok or cease US operations by today.
Photo: Bloomberg
“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,” TikTok said following the Supreme Court decision.
The unanimous ruling, which found the law does not violate free speech rights, dealt a major blow to TikTok and created uncertainty about what would happen when the ban takes effect.
The court agreed with the government’s national security concerns about Chinese company ByteDance’s ownership of the app.
ByteDance has firmly rejected selling its US operation, a stance also taken by Beijing, which has denounced the law as theft.
The justices acknowledged that, “for more than 170 million Americans,” the social media giant “offers a distinct and expansive outlet for expression, means of engagement, and source of community.”
However, it concluded that “Congress has determined that divestiture is necessary to address its well-supported national security concerns regarding TikTok’s data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary.”
Even if the ban now stands, Biden said his administration would not enforce it, leaving the matter to US president-elect Donald Trump, who is to take office tomorrow.
Trump, who opposes the ban, discussed TikTok with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on Friday.
“The Supreme Court decision was expected, and everyone must respect it,” Trump wrote on Truth Social as he said he would need time to find an alternative to the ban.
The US Department of Justice said that enforcing the law “will be a process that plays out over time,” in a potential sign that it does not intend to carry out the law for now.
Despite the court defeat, TikTok chief executive officer Chew Shou Zi (周受資) thanked Trump for his “commitment to work with us to find a solution.”
Trump “truly understands our platform,” he added.
TikTok has been lobbying furiously to thwart the law’s implementation with Chew set to attend Trump’s inauguration tomorrow.
The law requires Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their app stores, blocking new downloads. The companies could face penalties of up to US$5,000 per user who can access the app.
Chew gave no indication on whether TikTok would unilaterally shut down its platform in the US when the ban kicks in, as reported in US media.
TikTok’s lawyer Noel Francisco had said it would shut down today in case of a legal defeat.
Trump’s incoming national security adviser Mike Waltz told Fox News the administration would work “to keep TikTok from going dark,” saying the law allows a 90-day delay if the White House can show progress toward “a viable deal.”
Former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt has expressed interest in leading a purchase of TikTok’s US activity and said he is “ready to work with the company and President Trump to complete a deal.”
The ban would hugely benefit US-owned rivals Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, but influencers said that TikTok’s unique abilities could not be matched.
‘ABSURD MISTAKE’: The election commission said that there had been a failure to anticipate turnout after 14 polling stations ran short of ballot papers South Korean riot police yesterday cleared protesters from a Seoul polling station after a 35-hour blockade sparked by a shortage of ballot papers during local elections earlier this week. Wednesday’s election was the first nationwide vote since South Korean President Lee Jae-myung took office following the ouster of Yoon Suk-yeol over his short-lived martial law declaration. Lee’s ruling Democratic Party swept most races, but failed to flip the crucial Seoul mayoral seat. The South Korean National Election Commission apologized, blaming a failure to anticipate turnout after 14 polling stations in Seoul ran short of ballot papers. Some polling stations stayed open until 10pm to
France experienced its hottest spring on record, the French weather service said on Tuesday, after an exceptional early heat wave that also broke highs for the season in England and Wales. Meteo-France said the average nationwide temperature over March to May was 13.8°C — about 1.7°C above the norm, and surpassing records set in 2011 and 2020. “The warmest spring since records began in 1900,” it said in a bulletin. All three months were warmer than average, but the onset of an “unprecedented heatwave” late last month pushed the mercury to highs typically seen at the height of the summer. “Our country had never
A Sherpa guide was found crawling to base camp on Mount Everest a week after he went missing and was reunited with his family, who had given up hope he would return. Dawa Sherpa was last seen on Friday last week descending the mountain, but he did not reach base camp even though his client did. The pair were among the last climbers on the mountain as the climbing season came to an end and the route was dismantled. Dawa was located by a cleaning crew on Thursday morning as he was crawling down the snowy slopes around the Khumbu Icefall, just above
Chinese authorities are snuffing out any remembrance of the deadly 1989 military crackdown on student-led pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square, which happened 37 years ago yesterday, in a further tightening of a years-long campaign to erase what happened from public memory. Police told relatives of the victims they would not be allowed to visit a cemetery in Beijing on the anniversary of the crackdown, a person with knowledge of the matter said. Relatives of the victims visited the cemetery on the anniversary for more than 30 years to read memorial statements with police keeping watch, Amnesty International said. Hundreds of people,
RSS