TikTok tells US users it is “temporarily” shutting down
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TikTok told its 170 million U.S. users on Saturday that it will be “temporarily” unavailable after a deadline that requires its Chinese parent company Bytedance to either sell its shares in the app or face a ban calculate.
In a pop-up that appeared when users opened the short-video app, the company wrote: “We regret that a U.S. law banning TikTok will take effect on January 19 and force us to temporarily unavailable our services make.”
It added: “We are working to restore our service in the US as quickly as possible and we thank you for your support. Please stay tuned.” Otherwise, the app will continue to work for users.
On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a law passed by Congress last year that requires ByteDance to sell the platform or face a nationwide ban on Sunday, sparked by concerns the platform could be used by Beijing for spying or spreading propaganda be used.
On Saturday, President-elect Donald Trump said he would “most likely” grant a 90-day extension when he comes to the White House on Monday.
However, as of midnight, the law will ban companies including Apple, Google and Oracle from providing services to distribute or host the video app or face fines of $5,000 per user.
Late Friday, TikTok said that statements from the White House and the Justice Department “have not provided the necessary clarity and certainty to the service providers essential to maintaining TikTok’s availability” in the United States, without providing a definitive explanation , in order to satisfy the most critical service providers and ensure non-enforcement, would be forced to take down TikTok on January 19th.
This is a developing story.
