White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called TikTok’s threat to “go dark” on Sunday, January 19th, a “stunt,” and that there is no reason for TikTok to shut itself down before President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in on the 20th.

President-elect Donald Trump told ABC News in an interview Saturday he is likely to grant TikTok a 90-day extension to avoid a ban in the United States.

January 19, 2025 - White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has released a Statement regarding TikTok. A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can't use TikTok for now.

In response to TikTok’s retaliation to the ban by going dark on Sunday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre shared a statement attempting to call their bluff: “It is a stunt, and we see no reason for TikTok or other companies to take actions in the next few days before the Trump administration takes office on Monday.

The White House on Saturday called TikTok’s statement warning that it will “go dark” on Sunday unless President Biden steps in a “stunt,” arguing the app doesn’t have to take action

TikTok is pressuring President Joe Biden in his final days to decline to enforce the ban; the administration says the timing makes any decision Donald Trump’s responsibility.

Trump spoke to NBC News’ Kristen Welker in an exclusive phone interview Saturday, discussing his plans on what to do about the popular social media app.

TikTok said it will have to “go dark” this weekend unless the outgoing Biden administration assures the company it won’t enforce a shutdown of the popular app after the Supreme Court on Friday unanimously upheld the federal law banning the app unless it’s sold by its China-based parent company.

Congress passed legislation requiring TikTok to be banned unless its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, sold its shares by Monday.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre emphasised that the implementation of TikTok's status will fall to the incoming administration after a US Supreme Court ruling. President Biden supports American ownership of TikTok to address security concerns.

When users opened the TikTok app on Saturday, they encountered a pop-up message that said, “Sorry, TikTok isn't available right now.”View on euronews

Millions of TikTok users in the United States are no longer able to watch videos on the social media platform as a federal ban on the immensely popular app takes effect.