TikTok seeks to reassure U.S. employees ahead of Jan. 19 ban deadline

By David Shepardson and Jasper Ward

(Reuters) – TikTok plans to keep paying U.S. employees even if the Supreme Court does not overturn a law that would force the sale of the short-video app in the U.S. or ban it, the company’s leadership said in an internal memo reviewed by Reuters on Tuesday.

The hugely popular platform is owned by China-based ByteDance and has 7,000 employees in the U.S.

“I cannot emphasize enough that your wellbeing is a top priority and so most importantly, I want to reinforce that as employees in the US, your employment, pay, and benefits are secure, and our offices will remain open, even if this situation hasn’t been resolved before the January 19 deadline,” the memo to TikTok employees said.Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court seemed inclined to uphold the law, which was passed in April, despite calls from U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and lawmakers to extend the Jan. 19 deadline.

Trump, whose inauguration takes place the day after the law goes into effect, has said he should have time after taking office to pursue a “political resolution” to the issue.

“Our leadership team remains laser focused on planning for various scenarios and continuing to plan the way forward,” TikTok said in the memo.

“The bill is not written in a way that impacts the entities through which you are employed, only the US user experience,” the company said, adding that it will continue to navigate the situation to protect employees and the more than 170 million TikTok users in the United States.

If the court does not block the law by Sunday, new TikTok downloads on Apple (NASDAQ:.O) or Google (NASDAQ:.O) app stores would be banned but existing users could continue to access the app for some time. The platform’s services would degrade and eventually stop working because other companies would be barred from providing support to TikTok.