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The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the law that will ban the popular video platform nationwide Sunday if it does not divest from its Chinese parent company ByteDance. The law largely leaves the ban’s implementation to TikTok’s business partners, including app store giants Google and Apple, and internet hosting services, which could face massive fines if they carry or update the app or site past Sunday.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in response to the decision Friday that Biden believes “TikTok should remain available to Americans” but under different ownership and that implementing the law “must fall to the next Administration.” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, meanwhile, said ensuring compliance with the law “will be a process that plays out over time.”
The remarks stopped short of a full-throated pledge not to enforce the law, which TikTok signaled late Friday is needed to stave off a ban on Sunday.
While ByteDance could in theory still prevent the prohibition by selling TikTok before Sunday, it has resisted efforts to force a sale, all but ensuring the app would at least partially go dark this weekend.
President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to “save” TikTok from the ban-or-sale law but said Friday his plans are not yet final and that he will need “time to review the situation.”
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew thanked Trump for “his commitment to work with us to find a solution that keeps TikTok available in the United States” in a video posted on the platform Friday. He added: “Rest assured, we will do everything in our power to ensure our platform thrives as your online home for limitless creativity and discovery, as well as the source of inspiration and joy, for years to come.”