The future of TikTok, the social media app, rests with the Supreme Court after the federal appeals court denied the company’s petition to pause and review legislation that would ban the platform in the United States.
The saga began when President Joe Biden signed a bill this spring, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Advisory Controlled Applications App, which would make TikTok illegal for distribution in the United States if the Chinese parent company that owns the app, ByteDance, does not sell the platform by Jan. 19, 2025.
Despite everything taking place, users can still use the popular social media app today. But will the app get banned? How did we get here? This is what we know so far.
Why is TikTok potentially getting banned?
Many government officials argue that TikTok poses a national security threat. They believe ByteDance, which is based in Beijing, could access the data of the American people and use it as Chinese surveillance.
“Our bipartisan legislation would protect American social media users by driving the divestment of foreign adversary-controlled apps to ensure that Americans are protected from the digital surveillance and influence operations of regimes that could weaponize their personal data against them,” said Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) who introduced the bill along with Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) on March 5.
“This is my message to TikTok: break up with the Chinese Communist Party or lose access to your American users,” said Gallagher in press release when the bill was presented.
What does the bill say?
The House voted and approved the bill with bipartisan support, then it passed in the Senate as part of a foreign aid package before Biden signed the bill into law a month later.
The bill would make it illegal for software that is tied with foreign adversaries of the United States to be distributed within the country. App stores like the Apple App Store and Google Play along with internet service providers will be required to make the app inaccessible with U.S. internet browsers.
ByteDance has until the Jan. 19, 2025 deadline to sell the company or TikTok would effectively be banned in the United States.
Efforts to keep TikTok
On Dec. 13, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied a motion filed by TikTok and ByteDance that would pause the legislation that would ban the app. The Chinese company had filed the “emergency injunction” on Dec. 9.
Some politicians are also concerned that a TikTok ban would infringe upon Americans First Amendment rights.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) told USA Today, “In a free country you don’t take people’s companies. I think it also violates the First Amendment rights of 180 million Americans who use it, so I’m absolutely opposed to it.”
The the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) would agree that this legislature would hinder American’s free speech as they originally wrote to Congress urging them to vote against the bill.
What’s next for TikTok?
The Chinese company and TikTok turn to the Supreme Court with an emergency appeal as they argue the decision should be on hold and not go into effect in January.
This effort may be the company’s last chance to stop the bill from being enforced in a month from now.
“We plan on taking this case to the Supreme Court, which has an established historical record of protecting Americans’ right to free speech,” a TikTok spokesperson told USA Today on Monday. “The voices of over 170 million Americans here in the U.S. and around the world will be silenced on Jan. 19, 2025, unless the TikTok ban is halted.”
TikTok and their representatives argue the Trump Administration should have time to evaluate the legislation in what the company calls “massive and unprecedented speech restriction.”
President-elect Donald Trump has hinted at defending TikTok. “Tiktok had an impact, and so we’re taking a look at it,” Trump said on Monday. “I have a little bit of a warm spot in my heart. I’ll be honest.”
His statement contradicts his previous actions where he signed an executive order in 2020 to ban Chinese-owned applications such as TikTok.
