Going Dark: TikTok Will Pull The Plug On U.S. Access Sunday

Posted • January 18, 2025: 170 million TikTok users in the United States may wake up Sunday morning with nothing but darkness where their favorite social media site used to be. A federal ban on the social media giant goes into effect on Sunday, and while the Biden Administration has suggested that they would not enforce the ban, TikTok and its service providers aren't so sure. -- TikTok Policy @TikTokPolicy: “Statement on Possible Shutdown: The statements issued today by both the Biden White House and the Department of Justice have failed to provide the necessary clarity and assurance to the service providers that are integral to maintaining TikTok's availability to over 170 million Americans. Unless the Biden Administration immediately provides a definitive statement to satisfy the most critical service providers assuring non-enforcement, unfortunately TikTok will be forced to go dark on January 19.”

President Biden signed the bipartisan law banning TikTok in April. The law gave TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, until January 19th to sell the platform to a US-friendly buyer or face a ban in the US. The law cites TikTok as a national security threat because, like all social media platforms, it gathers an incredible amount of personal information from its users. What makes TikTok a threat is ByteDance, which is tied to the Chinese Communist Party, giving China a conduit to spy on Americans. -- CNN @CNN: “TikTok says it will go dark on Sunday unless Biden intervenes "immediately".” -- It had been expected that platform providers like Google and Apple would remove TikTok from their App stores. Under the law, platform providers could be fined as much as $5,000 per user for providing downloads or updates. 170 million $5,000 fines could add up pretty quickly, and the companies are looking for more than just a promise from the President. (…)

• More at: Twitchy - Going Dark: TikTok Will Pull the Plug on US Access Sunday
https://twitchy.com/eric-v/2025/01/18/going-dark-tiktok-will-pull-the-plug-on-us-access-sunday-n2406877
CNN Politics: TikTok says it will go dark on Sunday unless Biden intervenes ‘immediately’
https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/17/politics/tiktok-ban-supreme-court