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British Broadcasting CorporationTikTok said it would be forced to “shut down” in the United States on Sunday unless the government intervenes before a federal ban takes effect.
“Both the Biden White House and the Department of Justice have failed to provide necessary clarity and assurances to service providers that are critical to maintaining TikTok’s availability,” it said in a statement.
It added that unless the US government immediately issued a statement guaranteeing that it would not be implemented, “TikTok will unfortunately be forced to shut down on January 19.”
TikTok’s announcement follows a Supreme Court ruling earlier Friday that upheld a law that would ban the video app from being sold in the U.S. unless its Chinese parent company Byte Beat has put the platform up for sale by Sunday.
TikTok challenged the law, saying it violated free speech protections for millions of users in the country.
The Supreme Court ruling means the U.S. version of the app will be removed from app stores and web hosting services unless the company finds a buyer by Sunday.
It had been thought that the ban would not affect TikTok users who had already downloaded the app on their phones.
But TikTok’s latest announcement on Friday suggests that all 170 million U.S. users, as well as those seeking to download on Sunday, may immediately lose access to TikTok.
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