ByteDance is planning to completely shut down TikTok in the US as the ban on the app approaches closer. Various media outlets including Reuters report that the Chinese company could completely pull its video-sharing operations in the US on Sunday (Sunday, January 19, 2025) if the ban materializes. However, there are also suggestions that the current and especially Trump administration could revoke the shutdown. Here are the details.
The US government mandates that either TikTok divest its platform or face a federal ban in the country. So basically, if the ban takes effect, the app won’t be functional in the US, and downloading the app will also not be possible. The app will be removed from both Apple and Google’s respective app stores. The current users will be able to use the app but it won’t get any future updates on it.
So, when the app is banned, TikTok plans to issue users a message that directs them to a site informing them about the ban.
“We go dark. Essentially, the platform shuts down,” TikTok lawyer Noel Francisco recently said at the Supreme Court.
The company will also reportedly give options to their users to download their data which sounds like a counter to the US argument about the company’s misusing user data.
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Trump to give TikTok life amidst US ban likelihood
But as TikTok faces ban woes in the US, president-elect Trump could still give it a reprieve. Earlier, Trump stated that he has a warm spot for the app as it positively impacted his US elections leading to his victory.
Interestingly enough, his next tenure starts Monday, January 20, the day after TikTok is getting the ban. So, the billionaire tycoon could push an executive order to suspend the ban for up to 90 days. Also, he has said that once he assumes office, he will have time to find a “political resolution” over the issue.
Fortunately for the app, more positives are coming from Trump’s side too. His national security adviser Mike Waltz said to Fox News “We’re going to find a way to preserve it but protect people’s data.” But on the flip side, the current US administration has no eagerness to intervene in the matter.
Reuters quotes a White House official mentioning that the current President Joe Biden “has no plans to intervene to block a ban in his final days in office.” But NBC, a US media outlet recently said that his office is still exploring options to keep the app running beyond January 19.
It could disrupt the app’s service in other countries too
Another point to note is that shutting down the video-sharing app in the US might have an effect on its availability in other countries too. The company has remarked that several service providers in the US work to keep TikTok running in many countries across the world. The company said that it will need to “avoid interruption of services for tens of millions of TikTok users outside the United States.”
It’s also been said that if the ban takes effect, arrangements will be made to resume it if the new incumbent Trump reverses the shutdown. And while speaking of this, users have flocked in mass to the REDnote app seeing it as an ideal alternative to TikTok if it disappears from digital spaces in the USA.
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Development
US President Biden signed a law requiring Bytedance to transfer its ownership by January 19 to continue its services in the US. The Supreme Court also decided to uphold the law in favor of the ban on the video app.
TikTok though says that the US’s move breaches the First Amendment of the US Constitution that grants the right to free speech.
TikTok boasts over 170 million active users per month in the USA and is a major market for its revenue stream and popularity expansion.
