TikTok to ‘Go Dark’ on Sunday for Its 170 Million American Users
The New York Times
The Chinese-owned company said it would cut off its services unless the U.S. assures Apple, Google and other companies that they would not be punished for hosting and distributing TikTok.
TikTok said late Friday that its service would “go dark” for its 170 million American users on Sunday because of a ban in the United States over fears that its Chinese ownership poses a threat to national security.
The company said in a statement that “unfortunately TikTok will be forced to go dark on January 19” unless the Biden administration assures Apple, Google and other companies that they would not be punished for delivering TikTok’s services in the United States.
The statement was TikTok’s latest attempt to pressure the administration to grant it a reprieve from a law, upheld by the Supreme Court on Friday, that would effectively ban its service starting Sunday.
The law says that app stores and major cloud computing providers cannot deliver TikTok to U.S. consumers unless the company is sold by its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to a non-Chinese owner.
TikTok did not detail what would happen on Sunday, including whether it would voluntarily shut itself down or simply cease to function because it would lose access to services it needs to stay online.
The Biden administration had earlier signaled that federal officials would not immediately take action against Apple, Google and the other companies under the law.
