TikTok says it will remain dark on Sunday unless Biden makes a ‘final statement’

It remains unclear whether TikTok will still be available in US app stores on Sunday, with the company claiming that the outgoing administration of President Joe Biden needs to provide “definitive” assurances that it will not enforce the ban.

Friday, The Supreme Court upheld the law This would effectively ban TikTok in the US if app owner ByteDance doesn’t sell it. With the sale unlikely to be completed in the two days before the law goes into effect, it looks like TikTok will disappear from app stores on Sunday, January 19.

But that was one day before President-elect Donald Trump was inaugurated, and the next president had already done so asked the Supreme Court To postpone the ban until he can “negotiate a resolution to save the platform.” While the court did not agree to the postponement, the Biden administration also appeared inclined to leave TikTok’s fate in Trump’s hands.

in Friday statement, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden’s position had not changed — namely, that “TikTok should remain available to Americans, but simply under U.S. ownership or other ownership that addresses national security concerns identified by Congress.” However, given the timing, Jean-Pierre said that “actions to implement the law should fall to the next administration.”

Similarly, Statement of the Ministry of Justice “The next phase of this effort — implementing the law and ensuring compliance with it after it goes into effect on January 19 — will be a process that continues over time,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco suggested.

But TikTok She responded with a statement of her own Which suggests that this was not enough for the company and the app stores to continue offering the TikTok app. In TikTok’s view, Biden and the Justice Department “failed to provide necessary clarity and assurance to the service providers who are integral to maintaining TikTok availability for more than 170 million Americans.”

“Unless the Biden administration immediately provides a final statement to satisfy the most critical service providers to ensure non-implementation, unfortunately, TikTok will be forced to cease operations on January 19,” the company added.