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TikTok said its services would be shut down on Sunday with no guarantee from the Biden administration that it would not impose penalties Apple, Google and other service providers if they support the application.
“Unless the Biden administration immediately provides a final statement to satisfy the most critical service providers and ensure non-enforcement, unfortunately TikTok will be forced to shut down on January 19,” TikTok said. in a statement on Friday.
The announcement says TikTok's U.S. user base, which the company says numbers more than 170 million, will not be able to use the service when they open the app or website on Sunday.
In response, the White House on Saturday called TikTok's threat of a U.S. shutdown “a stunt” and said it saw no reason for TikTok or other companies to take any action in the next few days before the Trump administration takes office on Monday. January 20.
“We saw TikTok's latest statement. It's a marketing stunt,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement. “We have made our position clear and simple: action to implement this law will be the responsibility of the next administration. Therefore, TikTok and other companies should report any concerns to them.”
TikTok released a statement after The Supreme Court made a unanimous decision on Friday comply with a law requiring service providers to stop supporting the app in the United States if parent company ByteDance does not complete a “qualified divestiture” of the app by Sunday. As a result, Apple, Google and Oracle they may face severe penalties if they do not obey the law.
“The statements issued today by both the Biden White House and the Department of Justice have failed to provide service providers with the necessary clarity and certainty that are necessary to keep TikTok accessible to more than 170 million Americans,” TikTok said in its statement.
However, Biden's term ends on Monday, when he becomes president-elect Donald Trump begins his second term in the White House. Trump, who previously supported a TikTok ban, later reversed the issue. In December, Trump he asked Supreme Court to suspend the application of the law and give his administration “the opportunity to politically resolve the issues at issue.”
In a Friday post on his social media app Truth Social, Trump wrote: “My decision on TikTok will be made in the not too distant future, but I need time to evaluate the situation. Stay tuned!”
Earlier Friday, the Biden administration issued a statement saying that TikTok “should remain accessible to Americans, but simply under American ownership.”
“Given the mere fact that this is a timetable issue, the current administration recognizes that action to implement the law must simply fall to the next administration that takes office on Monday,” the statement said.
Attorney General Merrick Garland and his deputy Lisa Monaco said in: release that the decision “enables the Department of Justice to prevent the Chinese government from weaponizing TikTok to undermine America's national security.”
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