Ahead of TikTok’s showdown Supreme Court hearing to overturn the looming January 19 ban, here is how the popular app could be given a stay of execution
TikTok will appear before the US Supreme Court on Friday to urge lawmakers to scrap a law forcing it to sell its American assets or face a nationwide ban.
Executives from TikTok and ByteDance, the social media app’s parent company, are expected to fight their case for keeping the app active for its 170 million US users. ByteDance has insisted the app is not for sale and it would leave the US completely on January 19 rather than sell it to a non-Chinese company.
However, Joe Biden’s administration insisted that the law it signed last April was done to protect national security.
Ahead of the showdown meeting, we look at how we got here and the ways in which the ban could be overturned.
In April 2024, the US passed a law forcing ByteDance to sell its American assets or face being banned on January 19. Washington claimed the decision was made over concerns ByteDance could share user data with the Chinese government.
In December 2022, FBI director Chris Wray raised national security concerns about TikTok, claiming that China could use the app to collect user data to be used in spying operations.
In March 2023, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew was grilled by lawmakers at a five-hour Congress hearing, in which he repeatedly denied the app shared data with, or had links to, the Chinese Communist Party.
A year later, in May 2024, ByteDance decided to sue the US government, calling the law an “unprecedented violation” of the First Amendment.
Do people support a ban?
The majority of American adults who use TikTok opposed a ban – and that number has been growing. According to the Pew Research Center, as of August 2024, 61% of users don’t want the app banned – up from 56% in March 2023. In contrast, only 10% of users backed a prohibition. Pew reported that half of Americans (50%) at the time thought it highly unlikely TikTok would be banned by January 19, compared to 31% who said the opposite.
How can TikTok avoid a ban?
Donald Trump
Surprising as it sounds, the incoming US president might be TikTok’s savior. Last month, Trump asked the Supreme Court for the deadline to be placed on hold so his administration could “pursue a negotiated resolution.” His lawyers filed a 25-page brief urging the court for a stay on the deadline.
His decision to potentially save TikTok was interesting, given that during his first term in office, he threatened to ban the app – and even signed an executive order giving ByteDance 90 days to sell off its American assets. Microsoft was said to be in talks to buy TikTok, but nothing materialized.
Selling to a non-Chinese company
The most prominent condition set by the US, back in 2020 as now, is for TikTok’s US assets to be sold. ByteDance said last year that the app is not for sale. However, that has not stopped a group of wealthy businessmen from showing interest.
The People’s Bid for TikTok, formed by billionaire entrepreneur Frank McCourt and backed by Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary, has thrown its hat in the ring with a multi-billion dollar bid to purchase TikTok. The latter even called for Trump’s help in purchasing the app as soon as he takes office.
He told Fox News’ The Story with Martha MacCallum: “Trump will be who we have to work with to close the deal in the months ahead. So I wanted to let him know, as well as others in his cabinet, that we’re doing this, and we’re going to need their help.”
Joe Biden could scrap the ban completely
A remote possibility is that the outgoing president might even drop the ban entirely as he leaves office in a few weeks. But the chances of that are slim. Jeff Trexler, associate director of Fordham University’s Fashion Law Institute, told Vogue Business: “There’s a greater chance of Biden doing a TikTok of the [viral] APT dance than giving TikTok a reprieve.”
