The future of TikTok in the United States now hinges on President-elect Donald Trump following a ruling by the US Supreme Court on Friday, January 17. The court upheld a law requiring the platform’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell the US version of TikTok by Sunday, January 19, 2025, to avoid a nationwide ban.
The law, passed with bipartisan support in Congress in April 2024 and signed by President Biden, stipulates that ByteDance must divest TikTok to a neutral party. Failure to comply will result in Apple and Google removing TikTok from their app stores and ceasing security updates for current users, potentially leading to the app's shutdown.
TikTok, which has approximately 170 million users in the US, had argued that the ban infringes upon free speech rights, but the Supreme Court rejected the claim. If the divestment does not occur, companies like Apple, Google, and Oracle could face hefty fines if they continue providing services to TikTok after the ban takes effect, according to Reuters.
TikTok issued a statement warning, "Unless the outgoing Biden administration provides a definitive statement to ensure non-enforcement, TikTok will be forced to go dark on January 19."
However, President Biden is unlikely to intervene before the deadline, leaving the matter to the incoming administration, media reports said.
President-elect Donald Trump, set to take office on Monday, January 20, has hinted at possibly reversing the ban. “The Supreme Court decision was expected, and everyone must respect it,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “My decision on TikTok will be made in the not-too-distant future, but I must have time to review the situation. Stay tuned!”
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, who is expected to attend Trump’s inauguration, expressed gratitude for Trump’s openness to reconsider the platform’s fate, as reported by the BBC.
The app is widely popular among younger generations. Interestingly, many American users have turned to Xiaohongshu—translated as “Little Red Book”—a Chinese social media app, as a form of protest against TikTok’s potential ban.
