Written by David Shepardson and Crystal Ho
WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – TikTok plans to shutter U.S. operations of its social media app used by 170 million Americans on Sunday, when the federal ban takes effect, unless delayed at the last minute, people familiar with the matter said. Wednesday.
The Washington Post reported that President-elect Donald Trump, whose term begins one day after the start of the ban, is considering issuing an executive order to suspend implementation of the lockdown for 60 to 90 days. The newspaper did not explain how Trump could do this legally.
The law signed in April imposes a ban on new TikTok downloads on the Apple (NASDAQ:) or Google (NASDAQ:) app stores if Chinese parent ByteDance fails to divest the site.
In theory, users who have downloaded TikTok will still be able to use the app, except that the law also prohibits US companies starting Sunday from providing services to enable its distribution, maintenance or updating.
Trump’s transition team had no immediate comment. Trump said he should have time after taking office to reach a “political solution” to the issue.
A White House official told Reuters on Wednesday that President Joe Biden has no plans to intervene to block the ban in his final days in office if the Supreme Court fails to act and added that Biden is legally unable to intervene absent a credible plan from ByteDance to divest TikTok.
U.S. Sen. Ed Markey on Wednesday sought unanimous approval to extend ByteDance’s deadline to divest TikTok by 270 days, but Republican Sen. Tom Blocked the proposal.
If it is banned, TikTok plans that users who try to open the app will see a pop-up message directing them to a website with information about the ban, said the people, who asked to remain anonymous because the matter is not public.
“It’s gone dark. Basically, the platform has been shut down,” TikTok lawyer Noel Francisco told the Supreme Court last week.
The company also plans to give users the option to download all their data so they can register their personal information, the sources said.
The US Supreme Court is currently deciding whether to uphold the law and allow TikTok to be banned on Sunday, strike down the law, or pause it to give the court more time to decide.
The company said in a lawsuit last month that shutting down TikTok in the United States could make it unavailable to users in many other countries, because hundreds of providers in the United States help make the platform available to TikTok users around the world — and may no longer do so as of today. Sunday.
TikTok said in court that filing an order was necessary “to avoid interruption of services to tens of millions of TikTok users outside the United States.”
TikTok said the ban would eventually make the app unusable, noting in the filing that “data centers will almost certainly conclude that they can no longer store” TikTok’s code, content or data.
The closure aims to protect TikTok service providers from legal liability and facilitate the resumption of operations if President-elect Donald Trump chooses to undo any ban, the sources said.
One of the sources said that closing such services does not require longer planning, noting that most operations are continuing as usual as of this week. If the ban is later overturned, TikTok will be able to restore service to US users in a relatively short time, the sources said.
TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
US technology magazine The Information first reported this news late on Tuesday.
Privately held ByteDance is roughly 60% owned by institutional investors such as BlackRock (NYSE:) and General Atlantic, while its founders and employees own 20% each. It has more than 7,000 employees in the United States.
Last April, President Joe Biden signed a law requiring ByteDance to sell its US assets by January 19, or face a nationwide ban. Last week, the Supreme Court appeared to be leaning toward upholding the law, despite calls from Trump and lawmakers to extend the deadline.
TikTok and ByteDance have sought, at the very least, to delay implementation of the law, which they say violates the First Amendment’s protections against government restrictions on free speech.
TikTok said in a court filing last month that it estimated a third of its 170 million American users would stop accessing the platform if the ban lasted a month.