MIRIAM NNOLI 
Nigerian social media giant, TikTok has announced plans to completely shut down its operations in the United States (US) on Sunday, January 19 if a ban ordered by legislators goes through as planned.
New Telegraph gathered that the apparent shutdown comes as TikTok faces a January 19 legislative deadline to sever ties with its Chinese parent company ByteDance or cease US operations.
According to the report, the social media platform, which counts over 170 million American users, will implement an immediate blackout rather than allowing existing users continued access as expected.
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The report stated that while the law only requires app stores to remove TikTok and cloud providers to stop hosting US user data, the company will opt for a full suspension of service.
Users attempting to open the app after the deadline will encounter a message redirecting them to a statement about the federally mandated ban, along with options to download their personal data, the report said.
However, ByteDance has so far refused to sell TikTok’s US operations, though analysts say this position could shift as the reality of a forced market exit looms.
