- The US government has been trying to ban TikTok for years over concerns of Chinese influence.
- Last year a ban was finally passed in to law, requiring ByteDance to sell TikTok by January 19, 2025.
- The Supreme Court has now heard TikTok’s arguments against the ban, but striking down the law sounds increasingly unlikely.
In just a little over a week, one of the most popular apps the world has ever seen faces being cut off from a huge portion of its user base, as the US TikTok ban threatens to take effect on January 19. Considering the app’s widespread appeal, we wouldn’t blame you for feeling like this ban’s never going to happen — after all, politicians have been threatening to kick TikTok out of US app stores over concerns of China’s involvement for more than four years now, and so far the app’s been just as available as ever. With that deadline now visible on the horizon, TikTok’s looking like it’s in real trouble.
Efforts to ban TikTok really kicked into high gear last spring, as US politicians in the House of Representatives passed a bill requiring TikTok parent ByteDance to either sell the app to another company or face a ban in America. While that bill fell apart in the Senate, a second effort succeeded and became law in late April. That legislation defined the timeline that’s just about to run out, giving ByteDance until January 19 to comply.