We’ve heard a great deal about TikTok potentially closing up shop in the United States over the past several months, but time is nearly up. According to CBS News, TikTok says that it will shut down its social media service in the United States by January 19 if the Supreme Court doesn’t overturn or delay a law that would force its sale.
For those who have not been keeping up, the gist of it all is that Congress passed a bill in April 2024 that would force ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, to either sell the platform or face a nationwide ban. TikTok appealed the decision after President Biden signed the bill into law, but three appellate judges unanimously upheld the law in December.
The US government suggests that the Chinese-based company’s enormous trove of user data threatens national security. TikTok claims “the curation of content on TikTok is a form of speech,” and thus, a ban would be a violation of the First Amendment.
The company’s last chance of avoiding a ban or a sale comes on Friday, as TikTok will have an opportunity to argue its case in front of the Supreme Court.
President-elect Donald Trump, after attempting to ban the platform via executive order when he was last in office, has come out in support of the popular video-sharing app. He even filed a brief to the court, explaining that he “opposes banning TikTok in the United States at this juncture, and seeks the ability to resolve the issues at hand through political means once he takes office.” How much stock the Supreme Court puts in this brief remains to be seen.
Unless the Supreme Court does side with TikTok and overturns the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act in the next ten days, there’s a very good chance that you won’t be able to use the app in the US within the next two weeks.
