TikTok said it would “go dark” on Sunday unless President Joe Biden’s administration offered assurance that it would not enforce a ban upheld Friday by the Supreme Court for the app’s U.S. operations to be sold or booted over “national security concerns.”
In a Friday night post on X, the short-form video giant wrote, “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.”
In accordance with the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, TikTok won’t be available for download in app stores unless its Chinese parent company is sold to an American owner.
The White House said on Friday that it would not attempt to enforce the law, given that President-elect Donald Trump’s will be inaugurated Monday and has promised to “save” the app.
“Given 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,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement, according to NBC News.
Also on Friday, however, the Justice Department, released a statement praising the Supreme Court’s ruling.
“The Court’s decision enables the Justice Department to prevent the Chinese government from weaponizing TikTok to undermine America’s national security,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland. “Authoritarian regimes should not have unfettered access to millions of Americans’ sensitive data.”
Given the conflicting statements, TikTok said it did not feel assured enough to continue its operations.
“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,” it said in the X post.
Earlier on Friday, before the statement confirming the platform would go dark, TikTok’s CEO, Shou Chew, made an appeal to Trump’s ego in a video statement.
“I want to thank President Trump for his commitment to work with us to find a solution that keeps TikTok available in the United States,” he said. “This is a strong stand for the First Amendment and against arbitrary censorship.”
On Saturday, Trump said on NBC’s Meet the Press that he was likely to give TikTok a 90-day reprieve from the ban once he takes office.
“I think that would be, certainly, an option that we look at,” he said. “The 90-day extension is something that will be most likely done, because it’s appropriate. You know, it’s appropriate. We have to look at it carefully. It’s a very big situation.”
“If I decide to do that, I’ll probably announce it on Monday,” he said.
During his first term, Trump tried to ban TikTok. Over the summer, however, he switched up his stance and has since sought to keep the platform going, reportedly due to his large fan base on the app.
