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This is a new chapter in the tense relationship between China and the U.S. over technology and national security issues. TikTok, the popular social media platform owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, will completely shut down its app in the U.S. this Sunday unless the U.S. Supreme Court intervenes to block the ban.

According to China Securities Journal, TikTok has decided that it “will not allow existing users to continue accessing the app after the ban, opting for an abrupt shutdown” to highlight the impact of the prohibition. The measure follows a law passed by the U.S. Congress in 2024, which requires app stores like Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their platforms and mandates that the social network’s cloud service provider, Oracle, cease hosting user data in the U.S.

As part of the shutdown plan, users attempting to open the app after Sunday will encounter a pop-up message directing them to a website with detailed information about the ban and instructions on how to download their personal data before the app is fully deactivated.

Users will be given the option to download their personal data before the app ceases operations. Contrary to expectations, TikTok will not allow existing users to continue accessing its content after the ban. The social media platform has appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, arguing that the ban violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which protects freedom of speech. However, questions raised by the justices during hearings suggest that the court is likely to uphold the law.

The shutdown’s impact will be immediate, affecting millions of users in the U.S., many of whom have already begun migrating to other platforms such as Xiaohongshu, known as the “Chinese Instagram,” which has gained popularity among American users in recent days. TikTok has not issued further comments about its future in the U.S., although the situation marks a new chapter in the tense relationship between China and the U.S. over technology and national security issues.

Gas will be supplied in the volumes necessary for the population, as well as for thermal energy and industry. On Wednesday, Vadim Krasnoselski, the president of Transnistria, announced that his country had reached an agreement with Russia for the supply of gas to address the energy crisis.

“The humanitarian gas will be supplied in the volumes necessary for the population of Transnistria, as well as for thermal energy and industry,” Krasnoselski stated, while admitting that the transit route for the gas has not yet been determined and will be agreed upon during additional negotiations.

“There is no exact date for the pumping, but the fact that there will be a supply is certain… I hope that, as a result of the negotiations, the gas will soon reach Transnistria,” he pointed out. Transnistria is a territory with a population of less than half a million people, situated between Moldova and Ukraine. On January 1, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky suspended the transit of Russian gas, triggering a crisis in Transnistria.

The agreement was reached on Tuesday during Krasnoselski’s visit to Moscow, for which he received permission to travel from Moldovan President Maia Sandu. “Chisinau does not place any obstacles to finding solutions to the gas crisis,” Sandu remarked, noting that Moldova wants this situation to “end as soon as possible.”

Last week, the separatist authorities were forced to “completely” suspend the supply of hot water for both heating and everyday consumption, and gas is now only used for kitchen stoves. Tiraspol considers the only solution to the crisis to be the resumption of Russian gas supplies, which power the territory’s sole thermal power plant.

Transnistria, a territory whose authorities have been loyal to Moscow since breaking ties with Chisinau more than 30 years ago, hopes to receive Russian gas through an alternative route, referring to the TurkStream pipeline.