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 might have to shut down its social media service in the United States on 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.
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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 download or update the app after January 19.
UPDATE: TikTok reached out to explain that the original CBS News article (which has since been updated) was not an accurate reflection of the company’s plans. TikTok has not said that it will definitively shut down by January 19 if the law goes into effect, but US users might not be able to download or update the app after that date. We’ve updated our article as well.
