ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, is required to sell the app to a U.S.-based buyer or face a nationwide ban.

At the time, India was TikTok’s biggest foreign market outside of China, with 200 million users. (For comparison, the U.S. currently has over 170 million TikTok users.) Following military clashes along the disputed border between India and China,

But the model is only meant to be used within China’s mainland, a ByteDance spokesperson told TechCrunch. The e-reader’s China-based manufacturer, Onyx International, which sells Boox e-readers in both China and to the U.

TikTok said it will be forced to go dark on January 19, the day the ban is set to take effect, without more assurances it won't be enforced.

It remains unclear whether TikTok will still be available in US app stores Sunday, or even work for US users at all, with the company claiming that

Disappointment, denial and confusion flooded US TikTok upon hearing that Chinese owner ByteDance planned to shut off the app by Sunday.

The fate of TikTok in the U.S. is still uncertain as Congress calls for Chinese-owned ByteDance to divest from TikTok by January 19th, 2025, citing national security concerns. Failure to divest could result in a nationwide ban of the platform.

President-elect Donald Trump said he will "most likely" give TikTok a 90-day grace period to avoid getting banned once he takes office on Jan. 20.

U.S. Supreme Court justices ruled prohibiting TikTok, the Chinese-owned app, is necessary to address security risks. TikTok looks to President-elect Trump for last-minute reprieve.

Shanghai-based Xiaohongshu, or RedNote as it is known in English, is a Chinese social media platform growing in popularity as an alternative to TikTok, but with the same security risks.