TikTok to 'go dark' on Sunday without White House clarity

Yi Wei Wong, Bloomberg News on Jan 17, 2025

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TikTok said it will be forced to “go dark” in the U.S. on Sunday unless there is a clear statement from the Biden administration to service providers that are maintaining its availability.

Statements issued on Friday by the White House and the Department of Justice “have failed to provide the necessary clarity and assurance” to the service providers, the company said in a post on X.

The Supreme Court on Friday unanimously upheld a law that threatens to shut down the wildly popular social media platform in the U.S. as soon as Sunday. President Joe Biden told reporters after the ruling that a decision on the app will be made by his successor.

“Unless the Biden Administration immediately provides a definitive statement to satisfy the most critical service providers assuring non-enforcement, unfortunately TikTok will be forced to go dark on January 19,” it said.

TikTok’s China-based parent company ByteDance Ltd. is required to find a buyer for its U.S. operations or face a shutdown on Jan. 19 under the law. A president can grant a 90-day extension on that deadline if a serious purchase negotiation is underway.

President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to save TikTok, used by 170 million Americans, and could choose to suspend enforcement of the new law once he takes office on Monday. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed TikTok Friday as part of a pre-inauguration conversation.

“My decision on TikTok will be made in the not too distant future, but I must have time to review the situation,” Trump said Friday in a social media post.

Under the law, tech companies that host and distribute TikTok — including Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google — would face the prospect of massive fines for continuing to support the app. They would have to decide whether assurances from the Trump administration provide sufficient legal cover.

Trump, who sought to ban TikTok during his first term, has since embraced the app, crediting it with helping him bolster his outreach to young voters.

Biden administration officials have indicated they are unlikely to enforce the law before Trump’s inauguration on Monday. Biden signed the measure into law in April after it won approval from a bipartisan majority in Congress.

“The court’s decision enables the Justice Department to prevent the Chinese government from weaponizing TikTok to undermine America’s national security,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in an emailed statement after the ruling.

(Greg Stohr contributed to this report.)