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| TikTok voluntarily shuts down service in the U.S. as divest-or-ban law takes effect | Photo: Reuters |
The company has warned that the video-sharing app TikTok is shut down in the United States hours ahead of a ban notice.
In a statement issued last Friday night, they said that if the ban against TikTok goes into effect, the Biden administration must ensure that it will not take action against companies like Apple and Google, otherwise, TikTok will be shut down in the United States.
This situation has arisen after the Supreme Court upheld a law banning TikTok, owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, in the United States. According to the law, the ban on the company will take effect if it does not sell its ownership of TikTok in the United States by January 19. On Friday, nine justices of the Supreme Court unanimously ordered the law to be upheld.
In such a situation, TikTok and its 170 million users in the United States are uncertain. Their fate now depends on Donald Trump, who will be sworn in as the new US president.
Trump has promised to keep TikTok running if he takes office as president. Trump will be sworn in as president on Monday. But there are fears that the ban will take effect from Sunday, the day before.
Even after the ban, if companies like Apple, Alphabet, Google, and Oracle continue to provide services to TikTok, they will have to pay large fines.
"Unless the Biden administration can immediately issue a specific statement to reassure the most important service providers that they will not be subject to retaliation. Unfortunately, TikTok has to shut down on January 19," the TikTok company said in a statement on Friday.
Reuters attempted to obtain a statement from the White House on this matter but did not receive a response.
The US has accused the app, owned by ByteDance, of posing a national security risk. Last year, the US Congress passed a bill to ban TikTok. The bill later became law after President Biden signed it into law.
However, some of the lawmakers who voted for the bill still want TikTok to remain in the US.
TikTok, ByteDance, and many users challenged the law, but the Supreme Court dismissed it.