Will TikTok be banned? What to know about SCOTUS decision, user impact, interested buyers

Posted by Admin January 16, 2025 Tech

The Supreme Court heard arguments last week regarding the ban but has not yet issued a decision.
If the ban goes into effect, TikTok will be illegal to distribute in the U.S., and existing users will lose functionality over time.
One of the ways the app could survive is if ByteDance sells its U.S. operations.

TikTok will soon go dark for 170 million American users barring an 11th-hour development.

TikTok‘s Chinese parent company ByteDance has until Sunday to sell the platform under federal legislation signed into law by President Joe Biden last spring. If the Beijing-based company fails to do so, TikTok will be banned in the U.S., making it illegal for U.S. internet hosting services and app stores to distribute the platform. The legislation comes amid concerns by some government officials who believe the platform is a national security threat, as ByteDance could be sharing U.S. user data with the Chinese government.

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments last week from TikTok, which claims the ban is an unconstitutional breach of Americans’ First Amendment rights. The platform asked the Supreme Court to put a halt on the ban. As of Thursday morning, SCOTUS had not released a decision.

President-elect Donald Trump will be sworn into office on Monday, Jan. 20, the day after the ban is to be set in place. Though he previously supported a ban on the platform, Trump asked SCOTUS last month to put a hold on the deadline to give his incoming administration “the opportunity to pursue a political resolution of the questions at issue in the case.”

The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that Trump is considering an executive order that would halt the ban for 60 to 90 days, and USA TODAY was looking into the report.

As we inch closer to the ban, here’s what to know about the situation, how users will be impacted and who has expressed interest in purchasing the platform.

Will TikTok shut down the platform on Sunday?

Following last week’s Supreme Court hearing, it appears TikTok is preparing to shut down the platform on its own on Sunday if a ban indeed goes into effect, per multiple reports. Remarks about TikTok’s intentions were first shared by the company on Friday.

What will the Supreme Court decision determine?

If the Supreme Court upholds the existing legislation, ByteDance will have until Sunday to divest TikTok’s American assets.

During last week’s hearing, Justice Samuel Alito asked if the court could temporarily block the law or administratively halt the law temporarily.

U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, defending the ban for the Biden administration, advised against a temporary block, unless TikTok was likely to win based on its First Amendment claim of a right to distribute its content. As for an administrative halt, Prelogar said she would defer to the justices on whether they have enough time to decide the case.

When will the Supreme Court make its decision?

The Supreme Court could release its decision at any time. The court does not need to release a decision by a specific date.

How would the ban affect users?

If the ban on TikTok goes into effect on Sunday, it will become illegal for U.S. internet hosting services and app stores to distribute the platform.

TikTok users who already have the app downloaded on mobile devices will still have access to it, but they will be unable to update the app, which will likely become unusable over time. TikTok would also be unavailable through U.S.-based internet hosting services.

Would there be a way to work around the ban?

How exactly the ban would be implemented is uncertain, but content creators are using this time to educate other users about virtual private networks (VPN), which allow online users to mask their locations. In theory, if a user used a VPN to set their location outside of the U.S., the user could be able to access TikTok.

However, there are a few instances in which VPNs wouldn’t work, Dan York, a senior advisor to the Internet Society, previously told USA TODAY. Popular VPNs could be blocked and using out-of-country locations would result in slower or unreliable connections.

York advised users to do thorough research before using VPNs, as there are malicious companies that may want to take advantage of users looking to use one for the first time.

Who is interested in buying TikTok?

Over the past month, several people and organizations have expressed interest in purchasing the platform.

Notably, Project Liberty, an organization led by billionaire Frank McCourt, announced last week that it had made a formal offer to ByteDance to purchase the U.S. assets of TikTok. Project Liberty’s President Tomicah Tillemann said in a statement that the organization would not publicly disclose the bid amount.

McCourt, former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, announced last month that Project Liberty had secured verbal commitments of up to $20 billion for the purchase. “Shark Tank” host and investor Kevin O’Leary announced last week that he was joining Project Liberty on the purchase plan.

If Project Liberty successfully purchased TikTok, it would only be the U.S. assets, which do not include the algorithm, as China finds it to be its intellectual property.

Others who have expressed interest in the platform include Tesla and Space X CEO Elon Musk; YouTuber James “Jimmy” Donaldson, more commonly known as MrBeast; former Activision CEO Bobby Kotick; Walmart CEO Doug McMillon; and Microsoft as an entity.

This story has been updated to add new information.

Greta Cross is a national trending reporter at USA TODAY. Follow her on X and Instagram @gretalcross. Story idea? Email her at gcross@usatoday.com.