Washington — TikTok voluntarily shut down service within the U.S. late Saturday night time, reducing off entry to tens of hundreds of thousands of customers after the Supreme Court this week upheld a law that successfully banned it over considerations about its ties to China.
The regulation handed by Congress final yr gave TikTok’s Chinese dad or mum firm ByteDance till Jan. 19 to divest from TikTok or be minimize off from U.S. app shops and internet hosting providers. TikTok stated a sale wasn’t doable and challenged the regulation in court docket, but it surely was rejected by a unanimous Supreme Court on Friday.
The court docket’s determination stated the divest-or-ban law doesn’t violate the free speech rights of TikTok or its 170 million customers within the U.S., agreeing with the federal government’s place that the platform could possibly be utilized by China to gather an unlimited quantity of delicate data on Americans.
While the Biden administration stated enforcement of the regulation could be left to the incoming Trump administration, the corporate itself took itself offline shortly earlier than the midnight deadline on Sunday.
Users within the U.S. who opened the app Saturday night time have been greeted with a message with the headline, “Sorry, TikTok is not obtainable proper now.”
“A regulation banning TikTok has been enacted within the U.S.,” the message reads. “Unfortunately, which means you’ll be able to’t use TikTok for now. We are lucky that President Trump has indicated that he’ll work with us on an answer to reinstate TikTok as soon as he takes workplace. Please keep tuned!”
CBS News has reached out to TikTok for remark. The app was not obtainable within the Apple retailer as of 10:50 p.m. Eastern Time.
On Friday, TikTok stated it might “be compelled to go darkish” starting Sunday until the Biden administration assured service suppliers that the regulation wouldn’t be enforced. The White House known as the enchantment “a stunt” and stated the corporate ought to carry up its considerations with the Trump administration.
“We see no cause for TikTok or different firms to take actions within the subsequent few days earlier than the Trump Administration takes workplace on Monday,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stated.
Even if President-elect Trump declines to implement the ban, the regulation would nonetheless be on the books, and corporations like Apple and Google could possibly be penalized down the street for violations. Trump beforehand vowed to “save” TikTok, and stated Saturday that he was contemplating an possibility to increase the deadline for the regulation to enter impact.
“The 90-day extension is one thing that shall be most probably executed, as a result of it is applicable,” he stated within the telephone interview, including, “if I resolve to do this, I’ll most likely announce it on Monday.”
The regulation features a provision that enables for a short-term extension if there’s a sale in progress.
During Supreme Court arguments on Jan. 10, Noel Francisco, a lawyer for TikTok, warned that the platform would shut down when the regulation went into impact, explaining that it might be “terribly tough” for a divestiture to happen beneath any timeline as a result of the Chinese authorities opposes a sale of the algorithm that powers the platform by tailoring video suggestions to every person.
“As I perceive it, we go darkish,” Francisco stated.
This is a creating story and shall be up to date.
