TikTok Says App Will ‘Go Dark’ on Sunday Unless Biden Steps In

Unless the Biden administration is able to step in to block the enforcement of a federal ban, TikTok said that the app will “go dark” in the United States on Sunday.

“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,” the company said. “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.”

Earlier on Friday, the Supreme Court upheld a law that will ban TikTok in the United States on Sunday if it does not divest from its Chinese parent company ByteDance. The justices ruled that the Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act is constitutional, rejecting an appeal from the app’s owners that argued the law violated the First Amendment.

The court wrote that while the platform “offers a distinctive and expansive outlets for expression, means of engagement, and source of community” for its users, Congress had “determined that divestiture is necessary to address its well-supported national security concerns regarding TikTok’s data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary.”

In a response to Friday’s decision, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that Biden believes “TikTok should remain available to Americans” but under “American ownership or other ownership that addresses the national security concerns identified by Congress in developing this law.” Jean-Pierre said that the implementation of the law will “fall to the next administration.”

Trump has urged the Supreme Court to let him “save” TikTok, but said on Friday that he needs “time to review the situation.” The president-elect has invited TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew to sit on the dais at his inauguration on Monday.