TikTok says it would ‘go dark’ without US court intervention

• TikTok said it would “go dark” this month if the Supreme Court does not extend the divestment deadline.
• TikTok users would likely stop watching videos after January 19 and the app would leave the app stores.
• The company will present its case against a law prohibiting the sale or ban before the Supreme Court on Friday.

TikTok said it would “go dark” in the US later this month if the Supreme Court fails to extend the January 19 divestment deadline set by a divestment or prohibition law.

During oral arguments before the Supreme Court on Friday, the company’s lawyer, Noel Francisco, said that TikTok’s partners, such as app store providers and other service providers, would stop working with it if its Chinese owner, ByteDance does not get rid of its operations in the United States before the 19th. That would force TikTok to close.

“It’s basically going to stop working,” Francisco told the court. “I think that’s the consequence of this law, so I think a brief reprieve here would make all the sense in the world.”

This means that a TikTok ban would not only prevent the app from being downloaded, but would also prevent existing users from watching videos. The app would not continue to work in the US like other apps like fortnite have after being removed from the app stores.

TikTok filed legal challenge against divestment or ban law In May. The bill called on its China-based owner, ByteDance, to separate itself from the U.S. version of TikTok within nine months or be forced to stop operating in the United States. The company he lost his case on the D.C. Circuit last month, and is now asking the Supreme Court for an emergency injunction to pause its divestment deadline.

During oral arguments, the company rejected the idea that it could spin off the U.S. version of TikTok from the rest of the company. Francis described that process as “extraordinarily difficult” on any timeline.