TikTok's fate uncertain as weekend deadline looms
The popular app is set to be banned in the U.S. starting Sunday
What happened
TikTok is set to be banned in the U.S. starting Sunday under a law that passed with broad bipartisan support last year. The law gave TikTok's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, until Jan. 19 to sell the popular app to a U.S. company on national security grounds.
Who said what
"Barring a Supreme Court intervention or some 11th-hour move by the Biden administration," TikTok "plans to go dark in the U.S." at midnight Saturday, The Wall Street Journal said. President Joe Biden does not plan to enforce the ban on his last full day in office, a White House official said Thursday. "Given the timing of when it goes into effect over a holiday weekend a day before inauguration, it will be up to the next administration to implement" the law.
Donald Trump plans to keep "TikTok from going dark," incoming national security adviser Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) told Fox News Thursday. The president-elect is "considering an executive order to allow TikTok to continue operating," The New York Times said, though it's "unclear" if such an order "would survive legal challenges or persuade the app stores and cloud computing companies to take steps that could expose them to huge penalties" under the 2024 law.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
What next?
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is expected to have a "prime seating location on the dais" at Trump's inauguration on Monday, next to other Big Tech executives, PBS said.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
How travel insurance through a credit card worksThe explainer Use a card with built-in coverage to book your next trip
-
‘We owe it to our young people not to lie to them anymore’instant opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Chile picks leftist, far-right candidates for runoff voteSpeed Read The presidential runoff election will be between Jeannette Jara, a progressive from President Gabriel Boric’s governing coalition, and far-right former congressman José Antonio Kast
-
Is AI to blame for recent job cuts?Today’s Big Question Numerous companies have called out AI for being the reason for the culling
-
Saudi Arabia could become an AI focal pointUnder the Radar A state-backed AI project hopes to rival China and the United States
-
Sora 2 and the fear of an AI video futureIn the Spotlight Cutting-edge video-creation app shares ‘hyperrealistic’ AI content for free
-
Trump allies reportedly poised to buy TikTokSpeed Read Under the deal, U.S. companies would own about 80% of the company
-
Google avoids the worst in antitrust rulingSpeed Read A federal judge rejected the government's request to break up Google
-
What an all-bot social network tells us about social mediaUnder The Radar The experiment's findings 'didn't speak well of us'
-
Broken brains: The social price of digital lifeFeature A new study shows that smartphones and streaming services may be fueling a sharp decline in responsibility and reliability in adults
-
The Hermit Kingdom's laptop warriorsFeature American firms are unwittingly hiring IT workers with a second job—as North Korean operatives
