US TikTok ban: When could the app be banned and will Trump save it?

Social media company TikTok faces a ban in the United States unless its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, sells it by January 19. The U.S. Supreme Court, the highest judicial body in the country, has heard TikTok's final request to overturn the ban. President-elect Donald Trump, who will take office the day after the ban is set to take effect, has asked the Supreme Court to delay the ban so he can seek a "political" solution.

U.S. officials and lawmakers accuse ByteDance of ties to the Chinese government. Many have raised national security concerns about the app, claiming Beijing could force it to hand over data on its 170 million U.S. users. The U.S. Department of Justice has stated that TikTok poses a “national security threat of immense depth and scale” due to its Chinese parent company and access to U.S. user data.

In April 2024, the U.S. Congress passed a bill, which President Joe Biden signed into law, giving ByteDance nine months to find a U.S.-approved buyer, or TikTok would be shut down in the U.S. TikTok and ByteDance deny ties to the Chinese government and also deny that they would hand over any data. They had previously also ruled out a sale. The companies have launched multiple legal challenges to the law, calling it "unconstitutional" and arguing it would have a "chilling" effect on free speech for its U.S. users.

They argue that even a temporary ban in early 2025 would have a “devastating impact” on its operations and users. Donald Trump's victory in the 2024 election may offer TikTok a lifeline. He had attempted to ban the app while president in 2020, but now has called on the U.S. Supreme Court to delay the ban so he can work on a “political solution.” Ahead of the hearing, his lawyers filed a legal brief stating that Trump “opposes a ban on TikTok” and intends to address the issues “politically upon taking office.” Trump's December meeting with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew has also increased the hopes of legal opponents that he will intervene.

The Supreme Court heard arguments from TikTok and ByteDance against the law on January 10 and will now decide whether to overturn the lower court's ruling. However, if the law is upheld, it is unclear what steps Trump would take to stop the app from going offline. Lawyers representing TikTok and ByteDance told the court that if the ban takes effect, the app will be “shut down” in the U.S. on January 19. If the ban goes into effect, online marketplaces such as app stores and web hosting platforms would have to stop offering TikTok to Americans.

Politicians have told the heads of Apple and Google to prepare to remove TikTok from the iOS and Android device App Store and Google Play Store. Most people download apps to their smartphones and tablets through app stores, so the ban would prevent new users from getting TikTok. It would also mean that people who already have the app would not be able to get future updates designed to improve security or fix bugs. The law prohibits apps controlled by a U.S. adversary from being updated and maintained in the U.S. It gives the president broad powers to restrict apps with ties to China, as well as Russia, Iran and North Korea.

At the heart of TikTok is its algorithm, a set of instructions that determines what content is shown to users based on data from their interactions with other content. TikTok can use this data, along with information about individual users’ devices, locations and keystroke rhythms, to recommend videos to users in its automatically generated “For You” feed. Some researchers have previously claimed that the app collects more user data than other apps in order to power its highly personalized system. However, rival social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram also collect similar user data.

TikTok is already banned in India, which was one of the app’s biggest markets before it was outlawed in June 2020. It is also blocked in Iran, Nepal, Afghanistan and Somalia. The UK government and parliament banned TikTok from employees' work devices in 2023, as did the European Commission. The BBC has also advised staff to remove TikTok from company phones due to security concerns.