Supreme Court Allows TikTok Ban to Take Effect This Weekend, Citing Security, Despite Its 'Distinctive' Community Role

Mar. 15, 2025

The Supreme Court has weighed in onthe pending TikTok ban, just two days before the Jan. 19 deadline when it is set to go into effect.

On Friday, Jan. 17, the courtruledthat the law forcing TikTok to cease operations in the United States if it does not divest from Chinese ownership is constitutional, affirming an appeals court’s previous ruling that the sell-or-ban mandate does not violate the First Amendment.

“There is no doubt that, for more than 170 million Americans, TikTok offers a distinctive and expansive outlet for expression, means of engagement, and source of community,” Friday’s ruling stated. “But Congress has determined that divestiture is necessary to address its well-supported national security concerns regarding TikTok’s data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary.”

The decision was released just one day after a White House official said that given the timing of when the ban is set to go into effect — just one day before President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration — “it will be up to the next administration to implement,” signaling that the Biden administration effectively doesn’t plan to enforce the law in the last hours of his term.

It is unclear what options Trump might take, but theWashington Postpreviouslyreported that he was considering issuing an executive order once he takes office that would suspend enforcement of the ban for somewhere between 60 to 90 days, which would give him time to either help broker a sale — something TikTok and ByteDance have previously been candid about not wanting to do — or offer another solution.

Although TikTok has not explicitly addressed what will happen on Jan. 19, in avideo statementreleased shortly after the ruling was announced, TikTok’s CEO Shou Zi Chew expressed gratitude to Trump multiple times.

“I want to thank President Trump for his commitment to work with us to find a solution that keeps TikTok available in the United States," he said, later adding, “We are grateful and pleased to have the support of a President who truly understands our platform.”

getty

The high courthad appeared skeptical of intervening on TikTok’s behalflast week as it heard arguments on whether or not to step in and temporarily pause the sell-or-ban legislation given what TikTok claims is a violation of free speech for its tens of millions of American users.

Countries like India have taken similar action against TikTok.

China has likewise banned several massive U.S. platforms, like Facebook, Google and YouTube.

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

TikTok has pushed back,criticizing the sell-or-ban legislationas “conceived and pushed through based on inaccurate, flawed, and hypothetical information, resulting in outright censorship of the American people.”

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.”

TikTok has called that a “total ban.”

“We go dark,” TikTok attorney Noel Francisco told the Supreme Court justices last week, “Essentially, the platform shuts down.”

However, in practice, the app will not magically disappear from users’ phones after the deadline.

The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!

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. New users would not be able to access or download TikTok.

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.

“Personally for me, it’s too overwhelming to think about,” TikTok creator Lexi Larsonrecently told PEOPLEof the looming ban. “It’s gonna be kind of starting from scratch, which I’m not excited about.”

source: people.com