TikTok set to cease operations in US by January 19 - Reuters
Photo: TikTok is preparing to shut down operations in the United States on January 19 (Getty Images)
Social network TikTok is preparing to block its app for users in the United States. This will happen on January 19, if the Supreme Court does not recognize the ban on the platform in the country as illegal, Reuters reports.
According to the agency's interlocutors, TikTok has an algorithm for dealing with a possible ban in the United States.
Thus, in case of blocking, American users will receive a message redirecting them to a website with information about the ban when they open the application.
At the same time, the social network plans to give users the opportunity to download their personal data from their TikTok account.
According to one of the sources, the company continues to operate as usual this week, and the service shutdown will not require long preparations. If the ban is lifted, TikTok will be able to restore the app to US users "in a relatively short time."
TikTok ban in the United States
In April 2024, US President Joe Biden signed a law that allows for the ban of TikTok in the United States.
The law gives TikTok's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, 270 days to sell TikTok. Failure to do so will result in serious consequences: TikTok will be banned from US app stores and from internet hosting services that support it.
In a statement, a TikTok spokesperson called the law unconstitutional and said it would destroy the platform's 170 million users in the United States and 7 million companies that work with the app.
In December 2024, the Federal Court of Appeals upheld a law that would ban TikTok in the United States unless its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, sells its stake in the app. This should happen by January 19, 2025.
