The ruling against TikTok disrupts the American social media landscape, impacting 170 million users who call it home.
TikTok said it will have to “go dark” this weekend unless the outgoing Biden administration assures the company it won’t enforce a shutdown of the popular app after the Supreme Court on Friday unanimously upheld the federal law banning the app unless it’s sold by its China-based parent company.
With the President-elect Donald Trump set to take office in a matter of days, TikTok could potentially be saved in the 11th hour.
While TikTok remains hugely popular in Brazil, Indonesia and other markets, its 170 million users in the United States are its most valuable.
The Supreme Court seemed to lean Thursday toward upholding a law forcing Chinese parent company ByteDance to sell off TikTok, with all nine justices indicating national security concerns posed by the social media app outweighed potential threats to free speech.
The Supreme Court issued its opinion on the looming ban of TikTok in America upholding that the law will stay in effect, essentially forcing the app’s Chinese owner to sell its American holdings by Sunday or be forced to go dark.
TikTok could fade to black in the U.S. in a matter of days after the Supreme Court rejected its appeal to halt a law that will ban the popular video app as of Jan. 19 unless Chinese parent ByteDance sells its stake.
As TikTok’s fate hangs in the balance, roughly 170 million users across the United States face the possibility of losing access to the app, which has become the focal point of a growing national security debate.
The app’s availability in the U.S. has been thrown into jeopardy over data privacy and national security concerns.
The U.S. Supreme Court has unanimously upheld a law demanding ByteDance divest TikTok by Sunday, citing national security risks.
TikTok, owned by ByteDance, is on the verge of being banned in the United States. The thing is, the government could go after other ByteDance apps, and there are quite a few of them operating in the U.