The Supreme Court upheld on Friday a law banning TikTok in the United States on national security grounds if its Chinese parent company ByteDance does not sell it, putting the popular short-video app on track to go dark in just two days.
The court's 9-0 decision throws the social media platform - and its 170 million American users - into limbo, and its fate in the hands of Donald Trump, who has vowed to rescue TikTok after returning to the presidency on Monday.
The law was passed by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in Congress last year and signed by President Joe Biden, though a growing chorus of lawmakers who voted it are now seeking to keep TikTok operating in the United States.
TikTok, ByteDance and some of the app's users challenged the law, but the Supreme Court decided that it did not violate the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment protection against government abridgment of free speech as they had argued.
ByteDance has done little to divest of TikTok by the Sunday deadline set under the law. But the app's shutdown might be brief. Trump, who in 2020 had tried to ban TikTok, has said he plans to take action to save the app.
"My decision on TikTok will be made in the not too distant future, but I must have time to review the situation. Stay tuned!" Trump said in a social media post.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew will attend Trump's second inauguration on Monday in Washington.
"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," Chew said in a statement, while reiterating the company's free speech claims.
Trump said he and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed TikTok in a phone call on Friday.
It is possible that TikTok could keep operating on Sunday if the Biden administration clearly states it will not enforce the law in deference to the incoming Trump administration. However, it is not clear if that would convince Apple, Alphabet's Google, Oracle and others not to stop providing key services to TikTok.
'FOREIGN ADVERSARY CONTROL'
TikTok's Chinese ownership for years has raised concerns among American leaders, and the TikTok fight has unfolded at a time of rising trade tensions between the world's two biggest economies. Trump is expected to levy high tariffs on Chinese goods due to what he terms unfair trade practices from the world's biggest exporter.
Lawmakers and Biden's administration had emphasized national security concerns regarding TikTok, including that China could use it to amass data on the millions of Americans using the app for harassment, recruitment and espionage.
"TikTok's scale and susceptibility to foreign adversary control, together with the vast swaths of sensitive data the platform collects, justify differential treatment to address the government's national security concerns," the Supreme Court said in the unsigned opinion.
TikTok has become one of the most prominent social media platforms in the United States, particularly among young people who use it for short-form videos, including many who use it as a platform for small businesses.
Some users reacted with shock that the ban could actually happen.
"Oh my god, I'm speechless," said Lourd Asprec, 21, of Houston, who has amassed 16.3 million followers on TikTok and makes an estimated $80,000 a year from the platform. "I don't even care about China stealing my data. They can take all my data from me. Like, if anything, I'll go to China myself and give them my data."
The company's powerful algorithm, its main asset, feeds individual users short videos tailored to their liking. The platform presents a vast collection of user-submitted videos, often under a minute in duration, that can be viewed with a smart phone app or on the internet.
As the Jan. 19 deadline approached, millions of users jumped to other Chinese-owned apps like RedNote, finding they had to decipher its all-Mandarin platform to kickstart their feeds.
"China is adapting in real-time to the ruling," said Craig Singleton, a China expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank, which submitted a brief in the case against TikTok. "Beijing isn't just building apps; it's building a discourse power ecosystem to shape global narratives and influence societies."
Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement the ruling affirmed that the law protects U.S. national security.
"Authoritarian regimes should not have unfettered access to millions of Americans' sensitive data," Garland added.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
The Biden administration has emphasized that TikTok could continue operating as-is if it is freed from China's control. The White House indicated on Friday that Biden will not take any action to save TikTok.
As Biden is not expected to formally invoke a 90-day delay in the deadline as allowed by the law, companies providing services to TikTok or hosting the app could face legal liability.
It is not immediately clear if TikTok's business partners including Apple, Google and Oracle will continue doing business with it before Trump is inaugurated. The law bars providing certain services to TikTok and other foreign adversary-controlled apps including by offering it through app stores such as Apple and Google.
Google declined to comment on Friday. Apple and Oracle did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre in a statement reiterated Biden's position that "TikTok should remain available to Americans, but simply under American ownership or other ownership that addresses the national security concerns identified by Congress in developing this law."
Given the timing, Jean-Pierre added, action to implement the law "must fall to the next administration."
A viable buyer could still emerge, or Trump could invoke a law called the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, stating that keeping TikTok is beneficial for national security.
Only one notable bidder has emerged so far - Frank McCourt, former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team, who said he believes TikTok is worth about $20 billion without its algorithm.
"Beijing needs TikTok more than Washington does," said Michael Sobolik, a senior fellow and expert in U.S.-China relations at the Hudson Institute think tank. "With that leverage, Trump has a better chance of getting what he wants: TikTok’s continued operation in America without any national security threats."
© Thomson Reuters 2025.
26 Comments
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sakurasuki
That's the end of free market, Govt can intervene to business even in US.
TokyoLiving
How the fear that the US has of China makes it do stupid things..
But US is so immersed in Tiktok that Trump won't be able to undo it..
jeffy
I don't even care about master taking my freedom. Master can take all my freedom from me. Like, if anything, I'll go to master myself and give them my freedom.
Asprec's soul is worth $80,000 a year. I get it.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Please let Bytedance pull the plug in petulance.
TaiwanIsNotChina
That's always been true. Still one of the best countries to do business.
browny1
Funny how Trump was so against Tik-Tok saying it was an arm of the evil Chinese regime.
His Executive order from August 2020 in part -
Flash forward to January 2025 -
So the threat of the CCP has now been alleviated? Disinformation programs have ceased? Monitoring and stealing data stopped? Tracking of govt employees and contractors no longer occurring? Blackmail and espionage finished?
If so must be due to the great Biden govt - heh. heh.
If no - then why has good old Trump dismissed these misgivings and embraced good old Tik Tok?
Oh - for his personal benefit.
Yeah - "I was wrong about them, they're a pretty good bunch".
Swamp meets Sewer.
Blacklabel
So when Trump saves liberals beloved TikTok will they thank him? Or just complain?
all TikTok users after this should be required to vote for Trump next time.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Liberals got Trump his Tik Tok ban but at that point he had already become China Don.
Desert Tortoise
It's not "liberals" complaining about Tiktok being shut down. Ot is owners of small businesses, that bastion of socialism, (lololol), who use TikTok as part of their business that are complaining most loudly that the TikTok ban will put them out of business.
What is ironic is how many of these business owners are moving to RedNote, also called Xiaohongshu, which in Mandarin means “little red book.” Virtually unknown outside China until mid-January, the app has reached the top of the Apple Store’s download chart in the U.S. The move is a kind of revenge on the part of many American content creators, outraged at the foreseeable imminent closure of TikTok on U.S.
Blacklabel
There are not 170 million businesses as the primary users of TikTok.
bass4funk
No, he just needs to find a US buyer, that should hopefully happen soon and then this one nightmare with China will be over with.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Will never happen. The Chinese have no special regard for Large Body.
gokai_wo_maneku
So what's the big thing about TikTok? Go to another platform.
Garthgoyle
So... You're against democracy.
Blacklabel
No im against people benefiting from all my decisions that help them have the life and things they want, yet still voting against me for nonsensical reasons.
bass4funk
What do you mean, the SC ruled on it, it will go dark by tomorrow if they can't find a buyer, and China doesn't call the shots on this? Not sure what you are talking about.
JboneInTheZone
The US government has always been able to intervene when it comes to matters of national security.
JboneInTheZone
Not sure where you’re getting this idea liberal love TikTok seeing as a majority Democrat Senate passed the bill and Biden is the one who signed the bill into law. Do you dislike TikTok? Are you happy the Democrats worked so hard to get it banned or not?
JboneInTheZone
I agree, feel free to send me your social security once you retire. You know, since you’re against benefitting from things the Democrats have voted for and pushed, right?
TaiwanIsNotChina
Sounds like the app is in fact going dark. A day of reflection for the youth, I hope, that the US still means something.
TaiwanIsNotChina
There will never be a buyer and if Trump gets the app back up, it will stay up as a signal of his failure.
bass4funk
Then that’s it. Move over to Instagram.
No, because they will find a buyer.
TaiwanIsNotChina
So Trump is going to ban the app a second time? Fascinating.
China is not obligated to sell. They are fine having it go away in order to poke the US.
Tokyo Guy
Interesting that we see Garland actually get off his butt and do something when it doesn't involve risks to Trump's ego.
Fos
The United States of America back the McCarthyism era and a clear sign they cannot control China's decisions. TikTok will continue to show how irrelevant is the US market, and it will get worse and worse for the puritan and hypocrite Washington decisions.
Good luck America and please continue with your witch hunt, nobody cares really :)
TaiwanIsNotChina
The Chinese certainly care as that is their method to make inroads generating new apologists.