Nandini Roy Choudhury, writer
Brief news
- TikTok announced it will be unavailable in the U.S. starting January 19 unless the Biden Administration provides assurances to service providers regarding non-enforcement of compliance laws.
- The Supreme Court upheld legislation requiring service providers to cease support for TikTok if its parent company, ByteDance, does not divest the app by the deadline, risking penalties for companies like Apple and Google.
- As President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office, he has expressed intentions to review the TikTok situation, while the Biden Administration indicated that TikTok should remain accessible under American ownership.
Detailed news
According to TikTok, its services will be unavailable on Sunday, and the government of Vice President Joe Biden has not provided any assurance that it will not punish Apple, Google, or any other service providers if they continue to support the app.
Unfortunately, TikTok will be forced to go black on January 19, according to a statement that was released by the company on Friday. “Unless the Biden Administration immediately provides a definitive statement to satisfy the most critical service providers assuring non-enforcement,” the statement read.
According to the statement, customers of TikTok in the United States, which the business claims to have more than 170 million users, will not be able to access the service when they open the app or website on Sunday.
TikTok published the statement after the Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Friday to maintain a legislation that requires service providers to stop supporting the app within the United States if the parent firm, ByteDance, does not carry out a “qualified divestiture” of the program by Sunday to comply with the law. In light of this, Apple, Google, and Oracle may be subject to severe penalties in the event that they do not comply with an applicable legislation.
“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 stated in its statement. “These statements have failed to provide the necessary clarity and satisfaction to the service providers.”
On Monday, however, President-elect Donald Trump will begin his second term in the White House, which means that Vice President Joe Biden’s term will come to an end. Later on, Trump changed his mind about the issue, having previously advocated for the prohibition of TikTok. For the purpose of providing his administration with “the opportunity to pursue a political resolution of the questions at issue in the case,” President Trump submitted a request to the Supreme Court in December, requesting that the law’s execution be halted.
The following is an excerpt from a post that President Trump made on his social media app Truth Social on Friday: “My decision on TikTok will be made in the not too distant future, but I must have time to review the overall situation.” Keep an eye out!”
In a statement that was released earlier on Friday, the administration of Vice President Joe Biden explained that TikTok “should remain available to Americans, but simply under American ownership.”
According to the statement, “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.” This administration begins its term in office on Monday.
In a press release, Attorney General Merrick Garland and his deputy, Lisa Monaco, stated that the decision “enables the Justice Department to prevent the Chinese government from weaponizing TikTok to undermine the national security of the United States of America.”
