With the Supreme Court’s move Friday to uphold a ban on video sharing app TikTok, the social media app could be shut down as soon as Sunday.
There’s still some uncertainty about TikTok’s future after the court denied parent company ByteDance’s argument that a ban on the app infringes on users’ free speech. That’s because the Democrat administration, in its final days of power, doesn’t plan to enforce the ban, which was signed into law by President Joe Biden.
TikTok:If a ban goes into effect, what happens to your videos? Here’s what to know.
President-elect Donald Trump, who first called for a ban in 2020 as a national security issue, now says he thinks there’s a way to keep TikTok up and running in the U.S. The ban requires ByteDance to find a buyer or someone to operate TikTok’s U.S. operations.
Trump posted Friday on his Truth Social social media platform that his decision on TikTok “will be made in the not too distant future, but I must have time to review the situation. Stay tuned!”
In a video posted Friday on TikTok, the app’s CEO Shou Zi Chew told users, “Rest assured we will do everything in our power to ensure our platform thrives as your online home for limitless creativity and discovery, as well as a source of inspiration and joy for years to come. Thank you. More to come.”
TikTok ban timeline:How did we get here and what happens next?
What time will TikTok shut down?
Since the ban goes into effect on Jan. 19, it’s expected that the app could go into effect after 12:01 a.m. ET Sunday.
But honestly, no one except the TikTok team really knows – and they aren’t saying. “Despite the Supreme Court’s affirmation of the ban, we are entering into a sort of no man’s land with regards to how the ban will take effect,” said cybersecurity expert Theresa Payton, who served as the first female White House chief information officer former, in a statement.
“We have no idea until it’s midnight in the United States on the 19th how this is going to play out,” said Payton, who is the CEO and founder of Fortalice Solutions, a cybersecurity and business intelligence operations company.
Why does the U.S. government want to ban TikTok?
During his first term, Trump called for a ban on TikTok over concerns the Chinese-owned social media platform was a national security risk because it gathered data on U.S. citizens that could be shared with the Chinese government.
TikTok has said it has never been asked to provide U.S. user data to the Chinese government and wouldn’t if asked.
In 2020, Trump issued a national emergency related to TikTok, saying the app gave Beijing access to “Americans’ personal and proprietary information – potentially allowing China to track the locations of federal employees and contractors, build dossiers of personal information for blackmail, and conduct corporate espionage.”
Trump’s efforts to get the app banned during his first term were eventually blocked by multiple judges.
In 2021, Biden issued a new executive order, which said that ByteDance “continues to threaten the national security, foreign policy and economy of the United States,” and charged the Commerce Department with reviewing and evaluating the risks TikTok and other apps may present.
In December 2022, Biden signed a bill prohibiting the use of TikTok on government devices, and subsequently, legislation was crafted to ban the app in the U.S. unless conditions were met.
Congress voted on a ban in April 2024. Before voting on the ban, lawmakers raised concerns about the possibility of Beijing spying on Americans and spreading propaganda via TikTok. After Biden administration intelligence briefings, senators – Democrats and Republicans – said they were convinced TikTok posed a serious threat to national security.
The Senate in April 2024 overwhelmingly approved the bill, which was part of a $95 billion foreign aid package, with a 79-18 vote. That came after the House approved the TikTok portion of the bill 360-58. Subsequently, Biden signed the legislation into law.
While TikTok users may be “skeptical” about the need for action on TikTok, “they’ve not seen what Congress has seen,” Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said on the Senate floor ahead of the April 2024 vote.
“They’ve not been in the classified briefings that Congress has held, which have delved more deeply into some of the threats posed by foreign control of TikTok,” Warner said.
Will TikTok be banned? Possibly not and here’s why
In an interesting twist, Trump could issue an executive order saying TikTok is actually beneficial to national security, because the app is preferable to other Chinese-owned alternatives such as RedNote, an app that is subject to Communist Party censorship, said Anupam Chander, a professor at Georgetown University’s Georgetown Law Schoo.
Wedbush Securities analyst Daniel Ives said in a report Friday that he expects the Trump administration to delay the ban or ask the Justice Department not to enforce the law, which would allow Apple and Google to keep TikTok in their app stores.
Such an order would also allow internet providers and hosting firms to leave any TikTok assets and data on its systems for the time being, he said. “Behind the scenes, we believe the Trump Administration is working aggressively to set the stage for a deal and structure for TikTok going forward,” Ives said.
Elon Musk could play a big part in keeping TikTok in operation in the U.S. by either purchasing the app’s U.S. operations or overseeing the deal, Ives told USA TODAY. “Musk has a front-row seat to the Trump White House and (is the) only person (who) would be approved by Beijing for this purchase,” Ives said.
(This story was updated to add new information.)
Contributing: Riley Beggin, Greta Cross, Maureen Groppe, Jessica Guynn, Bailey Schulz and Mary Walrath-Holdridge of USA TODAY; Reuters.
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