tiktok Said on Sunday, January 19 that it would be “forced to go dark” unless it receives “definitive statement” from the outgoing Biden administration that the app’s technology partners will not be punished under the divestment-or-ban bill. Will not be done.
friday morning, Supreme Court rejects TikTok and parent company ByteDance’s appeal to block a law It will ban the popular video app in the US starting Sunday unless China-based ByteDance sells its stake in the app to a party that is not based in a country it deems a “foreign rival.”
TikTok said Friday, “The statements issued today by both the Biden White House and the Department of Justice fail to provide needed clarity and assurances to service providers who are integral to maintaining TikTok’s availability for more than 170 million Americans.” Are.” “Unless the Biden administration immediately provides a definitive statement to satisfy the most critical service providers assuring non-enforcement, TikTok will unfortunately be forced to go dark on January 19.”
The Biden administration has pushed the decision about whether to implement the law to President-elect Donald Trump, who has said he wants to find a proposal that would keep TikTok legal in the US.
“The administration, like the rest of the country, looks forward to the US Supreme Court’s decision on the TikTok case,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement Friday after the high court’s decision. “Given the stark facts of the moment, this administration believes that law enforcement action should be up to the next administration, which will take office on Monday.”
The law does not ban the use of the TikTok app in the US, but it imposes a fine of $5,000 per user on companies that distribute or host the TikTok app. Tech companies like Apple and Google (which offer TikTok in their app stores) and Oracle (which has an agreement to host TikTok user data in the US) may be reluctant to risk running afoul of the law. Apple, Google and Oracle did not respond to requests for comment on the impending TikTok ban.
US Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in commenting on the Supreme Court’s decision in TikTok et al. V. Garland said in a statement Friday that “the next phase of this effort – enforcing the law and ensuring compliance after it goes into effect on January 19 – will be a process that will continue over time.”
US Attorney General Merrick Garland commented, “The Court’s decision enables the Justice Department to prevent the Chinese government from weaponizing TikTok to undermine America’s national security. Authoritarian regimes should not have unfettered access to the sensitive data of millions of Americans. The Court’s decision confirms that the Act protects the national security of the United States in a manner consistent with the Constitution.
