TikTok has said it will be forced to “go dark” in the US on Sunday unless the government intervenes before a ban takes effect.
In a statement late on Friday, it said the White House and the Department of Justice had “failed to provide the necessary clarity and assurance to the service providers that are integral to maintaining TikTok’s availability”.
It said that unless the government immediately stepped in to assure the video app it would not be punished for violating the looming ban, it would be “forced to go dark on January 19”.
The statement follows a Supreme Court ruling earlier on Friday which upheld a law banning the app in the US unless its China-based parent company, ByteDance, sells the platform by Sunday.
Passed in April last year, the law says ByteDance must sell the US version of the platform to a neutral party to avert an outright ban.
TikTok challenged the law, arguing it violates free speech protections for its 170 million users in the country.
But the Supreme Court’s ruling means the US version of the app will be removed from app stores and web hosting services unless a buyer is found in the coming days.
It had been thought the ban would not impact TikTok users who already have the app downloaded on their phones.
But given updates would become unavailable once the ban comes into force, the app would eventually degrade and become unusable over time.
TikTok’s fresh statement on Friday, however, suggests it may immediately become unavailable to all existing users as well as those seeking to download it.
Influencers and content creators have been posting videos on the app bidding farewell to their followers ahead of the impending ban.
One creator, Nicole Bloomgarden, told the BBC not being on TikTok would amount to a significant salary cut, while another, Erika Thompson, said the educational content on the platform would be the “biggest loss” for the community.
Some users have been announcing where their content will be available to view next, including on the Chinese video app, Red Note, which has been little used by American users up until now.
President Joe Biden’s term is due to end on Monday, with Donald Trump due to be sworn in as the next president on that day. The White House earlier said it would therefore fall on the incoming president to enforce the law.
Trump has indicated he is against the ban, after initially supporting the move. “My decision on TikTok will be made in the not too distant future, but I must have time to review the situation,” he said on Friday.
He also revealed he had spoken to China’s President Xi Jinping and discussed TikTok, among other issues.
In December Trump said he had a “warm spot” for the app as it helped him with young voters in the 2024 election.
Trump’s comments marked a U-turn on his stance in his first term as president when he aimed to enact a similar ban through an executive order.
ByteDance has vowed not to sell TikTok and said it planned to shut US operations of the app on Sunday unless there is a reprieve.
Democratic and Republican lawmakers voted to ban the video-sharing app last year, over concerns about its links to the Chinese government. TikTok has repeatedly stated it does not share information with Beijing.
The potential ban comes at a time of heightened concern in the US about Chinese espionage.
Cybersecurity firms have suggested that the app is capable of collecting users’ data beyond what they look at on TikTok.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland said authoritarian regimes should not have “unfettered access” to Americans’ data and that the decision prevented China from “weaponising TikTok to undermine America’s national security”.
China enacted a law in 2017 that compels Chinese nationals living abroad to co-operate with its intelligence apparatus.
But Beijing has denied it pressures companies to collect information on its behalf and criticised the ban. TikTok has repeatedly stressed it has not been asked for its data.
The app argued the law endangers free speech and would hit its users, advertisers, content creators and employees. TikTok has 7,000 US employees.
24 April 2024: Biden signs bipartisan TikTok bill, which gave Chinese parent company, ByteDance, six months to sell its controlling stake or be blocked in the US.
7 May 2024: TikTok files a lawsuit aiming to block the law, calling it an “extraordinary intrusion on free speech rights”.
2 August 2024: The US government files a lawsuit against TikTok, accusing the social media company of unlawfully collecting children’s data and failing to respond when parents tried to delete their children’s accounts.
6 December 2024: TikTok’s bid to overturn a law which would see it banned or sold in the US from early 2025 is rejected by a federal appeals court.
27 December 2024: President-elect Donald Trump asks the US Supreme Court to delay the upcoming ban while he works on a “political resolution”.
10 January 2025: The Supreme Court’s nine justices hear from lawyers representing TikTok and content creators that the ban would be a violation of free speech protections for the platform’s more than 170 million users in the US.
17 January 2025: The US Supreme Court upholds the law that could lead to TikTok being banned within days over national security concerns.
19 January 2025: The deadline for TikTok to sell its US stake or face a ban. TikTok has indicated it will “go dark” on this day.
