The Supreme Court upholds the ban on TikTok

The Supreme Court has sustained the law that effectively bans TikTok on Sunday, January 19. The decision marks the end of TikTok. legal battle of months against a law that essentially forces ByteDance’s app to shut down unless it divests its US operations.

From Sunday, it will be illegal for app stores and Internet hosting services to distribute the social network. TikTok has warned that the app will be simple “go dark” on Sunday, but it’s unclear what exactly will happen once the ban goes into effect.

The decision comes days after TikTok he pleaded his case before the nation’s highest courtArguing that the law conflicts with the First Amendment, and that the social network needs extra time to allow President-elect Donald Trump to act to save the app. During the hearing, the Department of Justice (DOJ) argued that the law does not violate the First Amendment because it does not aim to regulate the freedom of speech in the platform or its algorithm. The DOJ also argued that the Chinese government could force ByteDance to secretly turn over the data of millions of Americans.

Throughout the legal battle, TikTok has argued that the sale of the US operations of the app will be impossible because China prevents the export of the algorithm of the social network. The company also stated that TikTok would be a fundamentally different service with a different algorithm.

President Biden signed the sell-or-ban law in April 2024. The bill followed years of allegations by the US government that TikTok’s ties to China pose a national security risk and expose the sensitive information of the Americans to the Chinese government.

More to come. Refresh for updates.