*

Trump vows his TikTok decision in "not too distant future"

*

TikTok CEO thanks Trump for support

*

White House signals Biden will not act to save TikTok

*

Law was passed on national security grounds

*

TikTok cites constitutional free speech safeguards

(Recasts headline, paragraph 1, 3-5 and 33 with new TikTok

statement, White House declining comment, changes keyword for

media clients from previous USA-COURT/TIKTOK)

By Andrew Chung, John Kruzel and David Shepardson

WASHINGTON, Jan 17 (Reuters) -

TikTok warned late Friday it will go dark in the United

States on Sunday unless President Joe Biden's administration

provides assurances to companies like Apple ( AAPL ) and Google that it

will not face enforcement actions when a ban takes effect.

The statement came hours after the Supreme Court upheld a

law banning TikTok in the United States on national security

grounds if its Chinese parent company ByteDance does not sell

it, putting the popular short-video app on track to go dark in

just two days.

The court's 9-0 decision throws the social media platform -

and its 170 million American users - into limbo, and its fate in

the hands of Donald Trump, who has vowed to rescue TikTok after

returning to the presidency on Monday.

"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 19," the company said.

The White House declined to comment.

Apple ( AAPL ), Alphabet's Google, Oracle

and others could face massive fines if they continue to

provide services to TikTok after the ban takes effect.

The law was passed by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in

Congress last year and signed by Biden, though a growing chorus

of lawmakers who voted for it are now seeking to keep TikTok

operating in the United States.

TikTok, ByteDance and some of the app's users challenged the

law, but the Supreme Court decided that it did not violate the

U.S. Constitution's First Amendment protection against

government abridgment of free speech as they had argued.

ByteDance has done little to divest of TikTok by the Sunday

deadline set under the law. But the app's shutdown might be

brief. Trump, who in 2020 had tried to ban TikTok, has said he

plans to take action to save the app.

"My decision on TikTok will be made in the not too distant

future, but I must have time to review the situation. Stay

tuned!" Trump said in a social media post.

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew plans to attend Trump's second

inauguration on Monday in Washington.

Trump said he and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed

TikTok in a phone call on Friday.

'FOREIGN ADVERSARY CONTROL'

For years TikTok's Chinese ownership has raised concerns

among U.S. leaders, and the TikTok fight has unfolded at a time

of rising trade tensions between the world's two biggest

economies.

Lawmakers and Biden's administration have said China could

use TikTok to amass data on millions of Americans for

harassment, recruitment and espionage.

"TikTok's scale and susceptibility to foreign adversary

control, together with the vast swaths of sensitive data the

platform collects, justify differential treatment to address the

government's national security concerns," the Supreme Court said

in the unsigned opinion.

TikTok has become one of the most prominent social media

platforms in the U.S., particularly among young people who use

it for short-form videos, including many who use it as a

platform for small businesses.

Some users reacted with shock that the ban could actually

happen.

"Oh my god, I'm speechless," said Lourd Asprec, 21, of

Houston, who has amassed 16.3 million followers on TikTok and

makes an estimated $80,000 a year from the platform. "I don't

even care about China stealing my data. They can take all my

data from me. Like, if anything, I'll go to China myself and

give them my data."

The company's powerful algorithm, its main asset, feeds

individual users short videos tailored to their liking. The

platform presents a vast collection of user-submitted videos,

that can be viewed with a smart phone app or on the internet.

As the Jan. 19 deadline approached, millions of users jumped

to other Chinese-owned apps like RedNote, finding they had to

decipher its all-Mandarin platform to kickstart their feeds.

"China is adapting in real-time to the ruling," said Craig

Singleton, a China expert at the Foundation for Defense of

Democracies think tank, which submitted a brief in the case

against TikTok. "Beijing isn't just building apps; it's building

a discourse power ecosystem to shape global narratives and

influence societies."

Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement the

ruling affirmed that the law protects U.S. national security.

"Authoritarian regimes should not have unfettered access to

millions of Americans' sensitive data," Garland added.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

The Biden administration has emphasized that TikTok could

continue operating if it is freed from China's control. The

White House said on Friday that Biden will not take any action

to save TikTok.

Biden has not formally invoked a 90-day delay in the

deadline as allowed by the law.

"This decision's going to be made by the next president

anyway," Biden told reporters.

The law bars providing certain services to TikTok and other

foreign adversary-controlled apps including by offering it

through app stores such as Apple ( AAPL ) and Google.

Google declined to comment on Friday. Apple ( AAPL ) and Oracle did

not respond to requests for comment.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said action

to implement the law "must fall to the next administration"

while the Justice Department said "implementing and ensuring

compliance with the law after it goes into effect on January 19

- will be a process that plays out over time."

TikTok said those statements "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."

A viable buyer could still emerge, or Trump could invoke a

law called the International Emergency Economic Powers Act,

stating that keeping TikTok is beneficial for national security.

Only one notable bidder has emerged so far - Frank McCourt,

former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team, who said

he believes TikTok is worth about $20 billion without its

algorithm.

"Beijing needs TikTok more than Washington does," said

Michael Sobolik, a senior fellow and expert in U.S.-China

relations at the Hudson Institute think tank.

"With that leverage, Trump has a better chance of getting

what he wants: TikTok's continued operation in America without

any national security threats."