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TikTok tells US employees they'll still have jobs even if the app gets banned

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew in Washington, DC on Tuesday February 14, 2023.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew. Matt McClain/The Washington Post/Getty Images.
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TikTok reassured its US staffers on Tuesday that they'd still have jobs even if the app goes dark in a few days, as mandated by a divest-or-ban law.

In an internal memo shared with employees, the company confirmed to its US team that their "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 company added that TikTok is a global platform and that only the US user experience would be impacted.

The Verge's Alex Heath first reported on the memo, which Business Insider independently verified. TikTok did not respond to a request for comment.

The memo acknowledged that this moment of uncertainty has been unsettling for the company and said TikTok's leadership team is planning for various scenarios as it charts its next steps.

TikTok employees who have spoken with BI have said they've often felt kept in the dark in recent weeks as they await a decision from the Supreme Court on a law that requires owner ByteDance to divest from the US version of TikTok or see it shut down. The company lost its legal challenge in the DC Circuit, and legal analysts told BI it's unlikely the Supreme Court will reverse that decision.

If TikTok does stop operating later this month, there's still a possibility that President-elect Donald Trump may try to rescue the app once in office, as he pledged to do on the campaign trail.

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Dan Whateley
Dan Whateley
Dan is a correspondent at Business Insider covering TikTok, YouTube, and the business of social media.He writes about how creators earn a living from social apps, the inner workings of companies like TikTok, and the many ways that social media is impacting Hollywood and other industries like e-commerce, sports, music, and news.He previously wrote about marketing and entrepreneurship at Ad Age and Inc. Magazine. He was a McGraw Scholar in business journalism at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY and a graduate of Middlebury College. Disclosure: Dan previously worked at the ad tech company, The Trade Desk, where he was granted stock as part of his compensation.