TikTok US Ban Live Updates: Popular video-sharing platform TikTok is likely to go dark in the US on Sunday after a decision by the US Supreme Court unanimously upheld a bipartisan federal law giving TikTok time till 19 January to cut ties with its Chinese parent ByteDance or face a ban in the US
ByteDance has said that TikTok will go dark in the US if the Joe Biden administration does not provide assurances to companies like Apple and Google about not facing enforcement action for hosting the short video app.
Notably, incoming US President on Saturday signalled hope for ByteDance as he said that he would ‘most likely’ give TikTok a 90 day reprieve when he takes office on Monday.
TikTok US Ban Live Updates: Senate Democratic leader advocates extending deadline
TikTok US Ban Live Updates: Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer on Thursday advocated the need to extend the January 19 deadline. He said, “It’s clear that more time is needed to find an American buyer and not disrupt the lives and livelihoods of millions of Americans, of so many influencers who have built up a good network of followers,”
TikTok US Ban Live Updates: TikTok notifies users of US shutdown
TikTok US Ban Live Updates: In a notification sent to US users on Saturday, TikTok stated, “We regret that a US law banning TikTok will take effect on January 19 and force us to make our services temporarily unavailable,”
“We’re working to restore our service in the US as soon as possible, and we appreciate your support. Please stay tuned,” the notification added
TikTok US Ban Live Updates: Why is TikTok facing a potential ban in US?
TikTok US Ban Live Updates: The US Supreme Court on Friday (17 January) dealt a blow to TikTok by refusing to block a law that mandates the popular video app to either be sold by its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, or face a ban in the United States on national security grounds. This decision has serious implications for TikTok, which is used by nearly half of Americans.
In a unanimous ruling, the justices upheld the law, passed with broad bipartisan support in Congress last year and signed by President Joe Biden. The Court ruled that the law did not violate the First Amendment rights to free speech, affirming a lower court’s decision. The ruling emphasized Congress’s concerns over national security, particularly TikTok’s data practices and its connection to China.
TikTok US Ban Live Updates: Why does Perplexity believe it will be successful?
TikTok US Ban Live Updates: While many names have emerged in the race to take control of TikTok US, including billionaire Frank McCourt, Shark Tank investor Kevin O’Leary and former Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin, ByteDance has publicly stated that it will not sell TikTok US. This is why Perplexity believes that it has a shot with its new proposal given that it is offering a merger rather than an outright sale.
TikTok US Ban Live Updates: Perplexity submits proposal to merge with TikTok
TikTok US Ban Live Updates: Artificial Intelligence backed search engine Perplexity AI has submitted a bid with TikTok parent company Bytedance to merge with TikTok US, according to a Reuters report. Reportedly, Perplexity AI would merge with TikTok US and create a new entity called New Capital Partners.
The report states that the proposal put forward by Perplexity would allow most of the existing ByteDance investors to retain their equity and lead to more video coming to the search engine.
