By Andrew Chung, John Kruzel and David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – TikTok warned late on Friday that it would go dark in the United States on Sunday unless President Joe Biden’s administration provides assurances to companies such as Apple (NASDAQ: ) and Google that they will not face enforcement action when the ban takes effect .
The statement came hours after the Supreme Court upheld a law banning TikTok in the United States on national security grounds unless its Chinese parent ByteDance sells it, putting the popular short video app on track to disappear in just two days.
The court’s 9-0 decision throws the social media platform — and its 170 million American users — into limbo, and its fate in the hands of Donald Trump, who has vowed to save TikTok after returning to the presidency on Monday.
“Unless the Biden administration immediately provides a definitive statement to satisfy the most critical service providers guaranteeing non-implementation, unfortunately, TikTok will be forced to cease operations on January 19,” the company said.
The White House declined to comment.
Apple, Alphabet (NASDAQ: ) Google, Oracle (NYSE: ) and others could face huge fines if they continue to provide services to TikTok after the ban takes effect.
The law was passed by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in Congress last year and signed by Biden, although a growing body of lawmakers who voted for it are now calling for TikTok to continue operating in the United States.
TikTok, ByteDance and some of the app’s users challenged the law, but the Supreme Court ruled that it did not violate the US Constitution’s First Amendment protections against government restrictions on free speech, as they argued.
ByteDance did little to divest itself of TikTok by the Sunday deadline set by law. But shutting down the app can be brief. Trump, who tried to ban TikTok in 2020, said he plans to take steps to save the app.
“My decision on TikTok will be made in the not too distant future, but I need to have time to review the situation. Stay tuned!” – said Trump in a post on social networks.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew plans to attend Trump’s second inauguration on Monday in Washington.
Trump said he and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed TikTok in a phone call on Friday.
‘FOREIGN adversary control’
For years, China’s ownership of TikTok has raised concerns among US leaders, and the fight against TikTok has come at a time of rising trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies.
Lawmakers and the Biden administration have said China could use TikTok to collect data on millions of Americans for harassment, recruitment and espionage.
“TikTok’s scale and susceptibility to control by a foreign adversary, coupled with the large amount of sensitive data the platform collects, warrant disparate treatment to address the government’s national security concerns,” the Supreme Court said in an unsigned opinion.
TikTok has become one of the most prominent social media platforms in the US, particularly among young people who use it for short videos, including many who use it as a platform for small businesses.
Some users reacted with shock that the ban could happen.
“Oh my God, I’m speechless,” said Lourd Asprec, 21, of Houston, who has amassed 16.3 million followers on TikTok and earns about $80,000 a year from the platform. “I don’t care if China steals my data. They can take all my data. Like, if nothing else, I’ll go to China in person and give them my data.”
The company’s powerful algorithm, its main asset, provides individual users with short videos tailored to their preferences. The platform features a vast collection of user-submitted videos that can be viewed using a smartphone app or online.
As the January 19 deadline approached, millions of users jumped to other Chinese-owned apps like RedNote, finding they had to decipher its all-Mandarin platform to run their feeds.
“China is adapting in real time to the ruling,” said Craig Singleton, a China expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank, which filed a brief in the case against TikTok. “Beijing isn’t just building apps; it’s building an ecosystem of the power of discourse to shape global narratives and influence societies.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement that the ruling affirmed that the law protects US national security.
“Authoritarian regimes should not have unfettered access to the sensitive data of millions of Americans,” Garland added.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
The Biden administration has stressed that TikTok could continue to operate if freed from Chinese control. The White House said Friday that Biden would do nothing to save TikTok.
Biden did not formally invoke the 90-day delay as allowed by law.
“This decision will be made by the next president anyway,” Biden told reporters.
The law prohibits TikTok and other apps controlled by a foreign adversary from providing certain services, including through app stores such as Apple and Google.
Google declined to comment on Friday. Apple and Oracle did not respond to requests for comment.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said enforcement actions “must fall to the next administration,” while the Justice Department said “enforcing and ensuring compliance with the law once it goes into effect on Jan. 19 — will be a process that plays out with time.”
TikTok said the statements “failed to provide the necessary clarity and certainty to service providers who are integral to keeping TikTok available to more than 170 million Americans.”
A viable buyer could still emerge, or Trump could invoke a law called the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, saying keeping TikTok is beneficial to national security.
So far, only one significant bidder has emerged — Frank McCourt, the former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team, who said he believes TikTok is worth about $20 billion without its algorithm.
“Beijing needs TikTok more than Washington,” said Michael Sobolik, a senior fellow and expert on U.S.-China relations at the Hudson Institute (NYSE: ).
“With that influence, Trump has a better chance of getting what he wants: the continued operation of TikTok in America without any threats to national security.”
