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TikTok told its 170mn US users on Saturday that it will not be available “temporarily” after the expiry of a midnight deadline requiring its Chinese parent company ByteDance either to sell its stake in the app or face a ban.
In a pop up that appeared as users opened the short-form video app, the company wrote: “We regret that a U.S. law banning TikTok will take effect on January 19 and force us to make our services temporarily unavailable.”
It added: “We’re working to restore our service in the U.S. as soon as possible, and we appreciate your support. Please stay tuned.” The app otherwise is still working for users.
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On Friday, the US Supreme Court upheld a law passed by Congress last year that requires ByteDance to sell the platform or face a nationwide ban on Sunday, spurred by concerns the platform could be wielded by Beijing for espionage or to spread propaganda. TikTok has denied that the Chinese government has any influence over the app.
On Saturday, president-elect Donald Trump said he would “most likely” issue a 90-day extension to the deadline when he comes into the White House on Monday.
However, the law will from midnight ban companies such as Apple, Google and Oracle from providing services to distribute or host the video app, or face fines of $5,000 per user – leaving them to decide whether to risk violating the law between the midnight deadline and Trump’s inauguration on Monday. Apple and Oracle declined to comment, while Google did not immediately respond.
Late on Friday, TikTok said that statements from the White House as well as from the Department of Justice had “failed to provide the necessary clarity and assurance to the service providers that are integral to maintaining TikTok’s availability” in the US, and that without “a definitive statement to satisfy the most critical service providers assuring non-enforcement, TikTok would be forced to go dark on January 19”.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Saturday said in a statement there was “no reason for TikTok or other companies to take actions in the next few days before the Trump administration takes office on Monday”.
The imminent shutdown caps a week in which TikTok and ByteDance executives have tried to hash out a plan to avoid closure, according to several people familiar with the matter.
On Friday, Trump said he had spoken to President Xi Jinping and discussed TikTok with the Chinese leader. Chinese state media said the two leaders had spoken but did not specify if TikTok was part of the conversation.
TikTok has said that a spin-off was not technologically feasible, while Beijing has previously indicated that it would oppose any sale.
Instead, the company had pinned its hopes on Trump, who during his campaign promised to “save” TikTok.
The uncertainty has prompted chaos inside the company itself. In the days leading up to the vote, the company rushed to reassure US staff that they would still have jobs and continue to be paid even if the app was shut down, according to three people with knowledge of the situation.
Meanwhile, marketers have already begun to divert advertising spending away from the platform. One media buyer said that they had paused all their spending on the platform in the US. However, TikTok was still encouraging them to spend their budget on the platform in other markets, the person said.
“It’s very messy and while people are not surprised, it was really impossible to plan for,” said the head of another big advertising agency.
Additional reporting by Zijing Wu in Hong Kong
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