TikTok Just Got Closer to Being Banned. Here's What It Means for You
Jan. 19 is the deadline: After that, the app won't vanish from your phone — but TikTok will become much harder to use
Within days, TikTok could be banned from being distributed in the United States and, eventually, stop working as an app altogether if the U.S. Supreme Court does not intervene to block a bipartisan law that is set to take effect on Jan. 19.
On Friday, Jan. 10, the justices heard arguments on whether or not to step in and temporarily pause the measure given what TikTok claims is a violation of free speech for its tens of millions of American users.
According to accounts from ABC News, CNN and The New York Times, the justices appeared inclined to rule against TikTok and don’t seem to feel the law creates an unconstitutional block on speech since TikTok can simply be sold by its Chinese owners.
The Times reports that a ruling is expected imminently, given the Jan. 19 deadline
“The law is only targeted at this foreign corporation, which doesn’t have First Amendment rights,” Justice Elena Kagan said at one point at Friday’s hearing.
The legislation, which overwhelmingly passed Congress and was signed by President Joe Biden last year, is designed to force the popular app’s Chinese owners, ByteDance, to sell it over fears China's government could use its data to manipulate or harm Americans.
Countries like India have taken similar action against TikTok.
China has likewise banned several massive U.S. platforms, like Facebook, Google and YouTube.
TikTok has pushed back, criticizing the sell-or-ban legislation as “conceived and pushed through based on inaccurate, flawed, and hypothetical information, resulting in outright censorship of the American people.”
“The government just doesn’t get to say ‘national security’ and the case is over,” an attorney for some TikTok users, Jeffrey Fisher, told the Supreme Court on Friday. “It’s not enough to say ‘national security’ — you have to say, ‘What is the real harm?’ ”
Lower courts have concluded the federal government has a valid interest in thinking the Chinese app could create national security issues regarding China’s government.
On Friday, Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, arguing on behalf of the government, said the solution was simple: TikTok could operate as normal — if only ByteDance would sell it.
“TikTok, if it were able to do so, could use precisely the same algorithm to display the same content by the same users,” she said. “All the act is doing is trying to surgically remove the ability of a foreign adversary nation to get our data and to be able to exercise control over the platform.”
Justice Amy Coney Barrett echoed that as well: “The law doesn't say 'shut down' [TikTok]. It says ByteDance must divest. If it did that, we wouldn't be here."
More broadly, said justice Samuel Alito, "If TikTok went dark, is there reason to doubt some other media company won't jump in?"
However, Justice Neil Gorsuch sounded more skeptical, noting that TikTok would accept a disclaimer about China and saying, “Don’t we normally assume that the best remedy for problematic speech is counter speech?”
Incoming President Donald Trump has pushed for a pause to the new law as well, filing a brief about it before the high court urging that he be given time to “resolve the issues at hand through political means once he takes office.”
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If TikTok is not sold by its owner, ByteDance — or be “divested” and then bought by a non-“foreign adversary,” in the language of the new law — then it will become illegal for internet services in the U.S. to support or distribute it.
TikTok has called that a “total ban,” though in practice the app will not magically disappear from users’ phones on Jan. 19.
Instead, the law would force the app to be removed from app stores (like through Apple or Google) and make it inaccessible through internet browsers in America.
If TikTok or other internet companies violated the law, they could face giant financial penalties.
People who still have TikTok as an app on their phone could potentially access its content after Jan. 19, but the app would not be updated over time and would be expected to become more difficult to use.
"We go dark," TikTok attorney Noel Francisco told the justices on Friday, "Essentially, the platform shuts down."
New users would not be able to access or download TikTok.
However, the new law requires that TikTok provide users with their data, including content they posted, if they request it before the restrictions take effect on Jan. 19.
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