It turns out TikTok is just as confused as the rest of us after a Supreme Court ruling this morning. SCOTUS upheld a law that would see the popular app with 170+ million U.S. users banned on Sunday.
That happens to be the last day of the Biden administration, with Donald Trump set to be sworn in on Monday. In a statement earlier today, the White House said that because of the tight timing, the Biden administration would leave implementation of the law up to the Trump administration.
TikTok has now made itself clear. It needs more clarity from the Biden administration and the DOJ on its status as of this Sunday or it will be forced to go dark. Donald Trump does not want TikTok banned and has said he will figure something out, but no specifics or timing.
“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 in a statement.
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“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 bipartisan Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, based in national security concerns, was signed into law by President Biden last year and gave TikTok until Sunday to sell itself to a U.S. entity or be banned. There’s one offer and lots of speculation but no sale is imminent. A ban would mean being dropped by the app stores of Apple and Google. In that case, current users would still have access to the app but no upgrades and gradual deterioration. The scenario TikTok just set up tonight, however, is that it would take the initiative and go dark.
It’s a bit of brinksmanship. Trump
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