TikTok issue Statement on possible shutdown
Politicians in the US have raised national security concerns regarding TikTok and its 170 million American users. Their primary argument is that China could exploit TikTok to collect data on millions of Americans and potentially use this information for purposes such as harassment, recruitment, and espionage.
Legislation introduced by President Joe Biden mandated that TikTok would be banned in the US unless its Chinese-based owner, ByteDance, sold the American version of the app.
Although ByteDance appealed the decision, the Supreme Court upheld the law on Friday, local time, and it could take effect as soon as Sunday 19th January 2025.
The Supreme Court stated that TikTok’s “scale and susceptibility to foreign adversary control, together with the vast swaths of sensitive data the platform collects” warrant the “differential treatment to address the government’s national security concerns.”
TikTok have today issued the following statement “The statements issued today by both the Biden White House and the Department of Justice have failed to provide the necessary clarity and assurance to the service providers that are integral to maintaining TikTok’s availability to over 170 million Americans. Unless the Biden Administration immediately provides a definitive statement to satisfy the most critical service providers assuring non-enforcement, unfortunately TikTok will be forced to go dark on January 19th”
I am one of the editors here at www.systemtek.co.uk I am a UK based technology professional, with an interest in computer security and telecoms.