By Reuters
TikTok plans to shut its app for U.S. users on Sunday, when a federal ban on the social media app used by 170 million Americans is set to take effect, barring a last-minute reprieve, people familiar with the matter said.
The law signed in April mandates a ban on new TikTok downloads on Apple AAPL.O or Google GOOGL.O app stores if Chinese-parent ByteDance fails to divest the site.
Under TikTok’s plan, if it is banned, users attempting to open the app will see a pop-up message directing them to a website with information about the ban, the people said, requesting anonymity as the matter is not public.
“We go dark. Essentially, the platform shuts down,” TikTok lawyer Noel Francisco told the Supreme Court last week.
The company also plans to give users an option to download all their data so that they can take a record of their personal information, the sources said.
The Supreme Court is currently deciding whether to uphold the law and allow TikTok to be banned on Sunday, overturn the law, or pause the law to give themselves more time to make a decision.
Shutting down TikTok in the U.S. could make it unavailable for users in many other countries, the company said in a court filing last month, because hundreds of service providers in the United States help make the platform available to TikTok users around the world.
TikTok said in the court filing an order was needed to “avoid interruption of services for tens of millions of TikTok users outside the United States.”
TikTok had that the prohibitions would eventually make the app unusable, noting in the filing that “data centers would almost certainly conclude that they can no longer store” TikTok code, content, or data.
The sources said the shutdown aims to protect TikTok service providers from legal liability and make it easier to resume operations if President-elect Donald Trump opted to roll back any ban.
Shutting down such services does not require longer planning, one of the sources said, noting that most operations have been continuing as usual as of this week. If the ban gets reversed later, TikTok would be able to restore service for U.S. users in a relatively short time, sources said.
TikTok and its Chinese parent, ByteDance, did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
U.S. tech publication The Information first reported the news.
Privately held ByteDance is about 60% owned by institutional investors such as BlackRock and General Atlantic, while its founders and employees own 20% each. It has more than 7,000 employees in the United States.
President Joe Biden last April signed a law requiring ByteDance to sell its U.S. assets by Jan. 19, or face a nationwide ban.
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court seemed inclined to uphold the law, despite calls from Trump and lawmakers to extend the deadline. The Washington Post reported Trump is considering isuing an executive order hoping to “save TikTok.”
Trump, whose inauguration comes the day after the law goes into effect, has said he should have time after taking office to pursue a “political resolution” of the issue.
TikTok and ByteDance have sought, at the very least, a delay in the implementation of the law, which they say violates the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment protection against government abridgment of free speech.
TikTok said in the court filing last month it estimated one-third of the 170 million Americans using its app would stop accessing the platform if the ban lasted a month.
