New York CNN —
TikTok’s US-based users could have only a few more weeks to enjoy scrolling through their For You Page before the app is banned in the country starting on January 19, 2025.
A US appeals court on Friday upheld the law that requires TikTok to be sold off from its Chinese parent company ByteDance or face a ban, dealing a major blow to the social media platform that’s used by more than 170 million Americans.
Under the law, app stores could face major fines if they continue to host TikTok following the deadline, if it’s not sold. For users who already have the app downloaded, that likely means they could continue to use it for a while but would not be able to receive updates, which would eventually make it buggy and potentially useless.
While the ruling increases the likelihood that TikTok will be banned, it’s not a done deal just yet.
TikTok indicated that it plans to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court. “The Supreme Court has an established historical record of protecting Americans’ right to free speech, and we expect they will do just that on this important constitutional issue,” TikTok spokesperson Michael Hughes said in a statement Friday.
However, the company suggested it has not budged on its earlier stance that it would not separate from ByteDance. Hughes said: “The TikTok ban, unless stopped, will silence the voices of over 170 million Americans here in the US and around the world on January 19th, 2025.”
Beyond a successful appeal, there are a few other ways a TikTok ban could be delayed or avoided, including potential support from President-elect Donald Trump after he takes office. President Joe Biden could also technically grant a one-time, 90-day extension of the deadline, although he has not indicated that he will do so.
When it appeals the ruling, TikTok could also ask for a stay — essentially, a pause — of the law while the Supreme Court reviews the case, which could mean TikTok avoids the January ban deadline, at least temporarily.
Stay or not, there’s reason to believe the Supreme Court will move quickly to render a decision on the case. Both TikTok and the US government had previously asked the US appeals court to expedite its ruling so the case could be appealed before the ban deadline.
“The Supreme Court could set a schedule for briefing and set an oral argument in the first week of January,” Josh Schiller, partner at law firm Boies Schiller Flexner, told CNN.
However, Schiller said TikTok is still likely to face an uphill battle in the Supreme Court.
“Given the composure of the Supreme Court being largely conservative, and largely ideologically in favor of a limited federal government, even with that background … I have trouble thinking that the conservative force on the Supreme Court would not see this as a (national) security case,” and therefore rule in favor of upholding the law, Schiller said.
The Supreme Court could also decide not to review the case, in which case TikTok may be out of luck, according to Gautam Hans, associate director of the First Amendment Clinic and professor at Cornell Law School.
“I am skeptical that the Supreme Court will take this case,” said Hans, who had signed on to an amicus brief supporting TikTok in the case. “They were pretty careful to write the opinion in a way that makes it less likely the Supreme Court would grant a review, and I think part of that has to do with the national security implications here… the court was really willing to take those claims seriously.”
Trump could also represent a lifeline for TikTok’s US presence.
Although it was Trump who first tried to ban TikTok from the United States during his previous term, he has more recently suggested that he no longer wants to ban the app.
Trump said in June — in a video posted to the platform itself — that he would “never ban TikTok.”
However, it’s not clear whether Trump will be able to do anything about it, given the ban is set to go into effect one day before his inauguration.
Trump could ask Congress to repeal the law, although experts say that effort would probably fail. From there, he likely has two options: He could direct the attorney general not to enforce the law or he could announce that TikTok is no longer subject to the law, University of Minnesota associate law professor Alan Rozenshtein told CNN last month.
The first approach would involve signaling to TikTok’s tech partners like Apple — which stand to face fines under the law if it continued to host TikTok on its app store after the deadline — that they “should feel free to continue business with TikTok,” Rozenshtein said. “But again, if you’re the general counsel of Apple, does that really give you a lot of confidence? You’re still violating the law. Trump is very mercurial.”
The second option would rely on a portion of the law that gives the president some authority to determine if a “qualified divestiture” of TikTok has taken place. In theory, Trump could declare that it has, whether or not that’s true, and then would have to hope it doesn’t get challenged in court. That approach could be more successful, given that “it’s not clear who could sue to enforce the law,” Rozenstein said.
Friday’s ruling renewed jitters over a potential ban among US TikTok users who go to the platform to find connection, get entertained, seek information and earn a living.
Some TikTok users had previously urged their representatives to vote “no” on the law. Others said that transitioning a large audience from TikTok to another platform is tricky, because each site has its own unique algorithm and monetization scheme.
“TikTok is a huge part of my income and my livelihood, so I don’t want to see it falter,” lifestyle content creator Carrie Berk told CNN Friday. “However, there has been much discussion about TikTok being banned since 2020 and nothing has happened yet, so I’m skeptical. All we can do is cross our fingers for now that it doesn’t get banned.”
“I still have my hopes that TikTok will not get banned in the United States but, currently, it doesn’t look good,” another user said in a video posted to the platform Friday.
However, not every TikTok user is so concerned.
“I don’t think it’s going to get banned” because of the millions of small US businesses who rely on the app, Keenya Kelly, a content strategist and creator who uses TikTok, told CNN. “I do think that they’re going to force TikTok to do some things that they don’t want to do, but I don’t think it’s going to be completely banned.”
