TikTok, which is without Joe Biden‘s support, has claimed that on Sunday (January 19), it will “go dark,” obliging to a United States ban; however, the White House claims their threat is just a “stunt.”
RELATED: President Joe Biden Decides Not To Enforce Looming TikTok Ban, Instead Leaves Chinese App’s Fate To President-Elect Donald Trump
Last year, Congress required TikTok’s China-based parent company ByteDance to divest its shares in the company by January 19. The American government argues that the TikTok app is a national security threat as it is owned and operated under the jurisdiction of the Chinese Communist Party.
The law, called the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, prohibits Apple and Google’s app stores, as well as web-hosting platforms, from distributing or hosting TikTok in the United States, unless ByteDance, which is based in Beijing, sells its ownership in the app to a third party located in a country that is not deemed a “foreign adversary” of the United States.
RELATED: Supreme Court Upholds The Law Banning TikTok Beginning Sunday If It’s Not Sold
ByteDance has been incessantly fighting against the TikTok ban and refusing to sell off its 40% stake in the app, likely relying on claims that President-elect Donald Trump will delay the ban and seek a better solution once he is inaugurated and takes office on January 20.
On January 10, the Supreme Court heard arguments after TikTok filed an emergency appeal to request a block of the ban. During the hearing, TikTok and ByteDance argued that the law created against them violates the United States First Amendment, affecting the nation’s 170 million users on their app. However, the Supreme Court Justices appear to be in favor of the U.S. government.
RELATED: TikTok CEO Posts Video Thanking Donald Trump After Supreme Court Upholds Ban
On Thursday (January 16), President Joe Biden’s Administration announced it wouldn’t be enforcing the January 19 ban on TikTok and will instead leave the fate of the Chinese app to President-elect Donald Trump. A White House official told ABC News, “Our position on this has been clear: TikTok should continue to operate under American ownership. Given the timing of when it goes into effect over a holiday weekend a day before the inauguration, it will be up to the next administration to implement.”
On Friday (January 17), the Supreme Court upheld the law banning TikTok, leaving TikTok to brace for a shutdown on Sunday, January 19. Reacting to the news of the ban being upheld, TikTok announced that it may have to “go dark” on Sunday if the White House does not provide a “definitive” statement regarding its future.
RELATED: Donald Trump Says He Will Most Likely Give TikTok 90-Day Extension After He Takes Office
On Saturday (January 18), the White House reacted to TikTok’s threat to “go dark” on January 19, without President Joe Biden’s support, and they called it a “stunt.” According to the BBC, outgoing White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre wrote a statement, and said, “We have seen the most recent statement from TikTok. It is a stunt, and we see no reason for TikTok or other companies to take action in the next few days before the Trump Administration takes office on Monday. We have laid out our position clearly and straightforwardly: actions to implement this law will fall to the next administration. So TikTok and other companies should take up any concerns with them.”
Meanwhile, on Saturday, President-elect Donald Trump told NBC News‘ “Meet The Press” moderator Kristen Welker in a phone interview that he will “most likely” give TikTok a 90-day extension from a potential ban in the U.S. after he is sworn in. Trump said, “I think that would be, certainly, an option that we look at. The 90-day extension is something that will be most likely done, because it’s appropriate. You know, it’s appropriate. We have to look at it carefully. It’s a very big situation.” He also emphasized that while he hasn’t made a final decision, the extension is under consideration.
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