PANews reported on January 18 that according to Jinshi, TikTok issued a statement on January 17 local time, saying that the latest statements from the White House and the Department of Justice failed to provide the necessary clarity and assurances to service providers, who are indispensable to maintaining TikTok's operations in the U.S. TikTok stated that unless the Biden administration "immediately issues a clear statement" to ensure that the ban is not enforced, TikTok will be forced to shut down on January 19 local time.