TikTok voluntarily shuts down service in the U.S. as divest-or-ban law takes effect | Global News Avenue

washington — TikTok voluntarily shut down its service in the U.S. hours ahead of a Sunday deadline that cut off access to tens of millions of users following a Supreme Court hearing this week uphold the law The agreement was effectively banned due to concerns about its relationship with China.

The law passed by Congress last year requires TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance to divest from TikTok by January 19 or be cut off from U.S. app stores and hosting services. TikTok said it was impossible to sell and challenged the law in court, but the Supreme Court on Friday unanimously rejected it.

The court’s decision stated divestment or prohibition law does not infringe on the free speech rights of TikTok or its 170 million users in the United States and agrees with the government’s position that the platform could be used by China to collect vast amounts of sensitive information about Americans.

Although the Biden administration said enforcement of the law would be the responsibility of the incoming Trump administration, the company itself went offline shortly before the midnight deadline on Sunday.

U.S. users who opened the app late Saturday night were greeted with a message titled “Sorry, TikTok is currently unavailable.”

“The United States has enacted a law banning TikTok,” the message read. “Unfortunately, this means you can’t use TikTok right now. We are lucky that President Trump has said he will work with us once he takes office on a plan to restore TikTok.” solution. Stay tuned!”

The app is also no longer available in the Apple or Google Play stores. CBS News has reached out to TikTok for comment.

TikTok said on Friday it would be “forced to shut down” starting Sunday unless the Biden administration assures service providers that the law will not be enforced. The White House called the appeal a “stunt” and said the company should raise its concerns with the Trump administration.

“We see no reason for TikTok or other companies to take action in the days leading up to the Trump administration’s inauguration on Monday,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.

Even if President-elect Trump refuses to enforce the ban, the law will still be written into law, and companies like Apple and Google could be punished for noncompliance. Trump has previously vowed to “save” TikTok and said on Saturday he was considering options to extend the law.

“A 90-day extension is the most likely thing to get done because it’s appropriate,” he said in a phone interview, adding, “If I decide to do it, I’ll probably announce it on Monday.”

The law includes a provision allowing short-term extensions if a sale is underway.

During the Supreme Court hearing Debate on January 10TikTok lawyer Noel Francisco has warned that the platform will shut down when the law takes effect, explaining that a divestment would be “extremely difficult” on any timeline because the Chinese government opposes the sale of the algorithm Power the platform by customizing video recommendations for each user.

“From what I understand, we’re going to be in darkness,” Francisco said.

But Francisco said that even if the final sale did not include TikTok’s algorithm, it would take “many years” for a new team of engineers to rebuild it and it would be a “fundamentally different platform.” He said the company is legally unable to share any user data with ByteDance, which would prevent U.S. users from viewing content from other parts of the world and vice versa.

The bipartisan law was included in a foreign aid package that quickly passed Congress and was signed by President Biden last April. TikTok and ByteDance Challenge the law The next month, it said it was an “extraordinary and unconstitutional assertion of power” based on “flawed concerns about data security and content manipulation” that would silence the speech of millions of Americans.

In a December ruling, a federal appeals court upheld the regulation, saying the U.S. government “acted solely to protect that freedom from a foreign adversary state and to limit that adversary’s ability to collect data on Americans.” Court of Appeal rejected TikTok sought to delay the law from taking effect pending review by the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court took up the case at breakneck speed after TikTok asked a judge to temporarily halt the proceedings. court expressed an opinion One week after the hearing and two days before the law takes effect.

“There is no question that for more than 170 million Americans, TikTok provides a unique and broad source of expression, engagement and community. But Congress has determined that in order to address its well-supported national security concerns, it is necessary Divestment. Regarding TikTok’s data collection practices and relationships with foreign adversaries,” the court’s opinion said.

The judges cited congressional rulings that companies can be required to hand over data to the Chinese government under Chinese law.

“The government has good reasons to single out TikTok,” the court said.

Deputy Attorney General Elizabeth Preloga noted during arguments that “nothing permanent or irrevocable will happen” on Sunday. The law states that restrictions on TikTok can be lifted if there are sales after that date.

“Congress anticipates that we might see something like a ‘cowardly game.’ ByteDance says, we can’t do it, China will never let us do it. But when push comes to shove and these restrictions go into effect, I think that “What ByteDance is willing to consider will fundamentally change the status quo,” Prelogar said.

In a video statement following the Supreme Court’s ruling, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew seemed confident that the app would have a future under Trump. He thanked the incoming president for his commitment to finding solutions that would allow TikTok to continue operating in the United States “for years to come.”

Trump, who tried to ban TikTok during his first term due to national security concerns, said on Friday he had spoken with Chinese President Xi Jinping about TikTok. A Chinese summary of the call did not mention that this was the subject of the discussion.

There is no long-term certainty about TikTok’s future in the United States unless it is sold or Congress overturns the law. Companies like Apple and Google could still face hefty fines in the future if they refuse to enforce the law.

“If the 19th is not closed, it’s illegal, right?” Judge Sonia Sotomayor asked Preloga, who said, “Yes.”

“No matter what the new president does, it’s not going to change the reality for these companies,” Sotomayor continued, referring to the penalties faced by app stores and web hosting services.

“That’s right,” Preloga said, adding that there is a five-year statute of limitations.