The United States Supreme Court has supported the controversial ban on TikTok if the parent company, ByteDance, refuses to sell it to a US entity.
On Friday, the apex court rejected an appeal from the popular app’s owners, who claimed the ban violated the First Amendment.
The court’s decision was unanimous, without any judge dissenting.
The decision followed the Biden administration’s warnings that the app posed a “grave” national security threat because of its ties to China.
The ruling effectively means the ban starts on Sunday.
However, there are many lingering questions about how the ban would work in practice because there’s no precedent for the US government blocking a central social media platform. How exactly the government would enforce it remains unclear.
In its ruling, the Supreme Court acknowledged that for 170 million Americans, TikTok offers “a distinctive and expansive outlet for expression, means of engagement, and source of community.”
However, President Joe Biden has said he will not enforce the ban for the few remaining hours he is in office, leaving it up to Donald Trump to decide what to do when he enters the White House on Monday.
After the Supreme Court ruling, the White House released a statement saying TikTok should remain available to Americans.
“TikTok should remain available to Americans, but simply under American ownership or other ownership that addresses the national security concerns identified by Congress in developing this law,” the White House said in a statement.
TikTok’s owners, ByteDance, have repeatedly said they won’t sell the app. If they did, it would stop the ban from coming into force.
What happens on Sunday?
Reports indicate that TikTok may “go dark” for U.S. users, displaying a message directing them to information about the ban.
If enforced, the ban could lead to TikTok’s gradual decline in the U.S., as companies like Apple and Google might remove it from their app stores, preventing new downloads and updates.
The White House also reported that Trump and Chinese Leader Xi Jinping had a phone conversation on Friday. The TikTok situation and Trump’s tariff threats may have been the fulcrum of the conversation.
President-elect Donald Trump, a TikTok supporter with over 14.7 million followers, will take office the day after the ban starts. He may seek to undermine the ban but cannot overturn it. He could suggest non-enforcement, hoping Apple and Google would keep the app available despite the legal risks.
U.S. TikTok users are already migrating to alternatives like the Chinese app Xiaohongshu, which has gained over 700,000 new users in just two days. Social media expert Adam Tinworth noted that past bans, like India’s in 2020, resulted in users shifting to established platforms like Facebook and YouTube instead of new apps.
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