Fewer users. Persistent glitches. The rise of a new or different video app.
These are among the developments that TikTok users should prepare for if the app is actually banned in the U.S. on Jan. 19.
TikTok’s leaders are working to avoid that fate in multiple ways. They’ve asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block the ban and discussed TikTok’s future with President-elect Donald Trump.
But Trump doesn’t take office until Jan. 20, and the Supreme Court is rarely quick to weigh in on a case.
TikTok ban
The threat of a TikTok ban stems from a policy that President Joe Biden signed into law in April.
The law says that TikTok will be banned in the U.S. on Jan. 19, 2025, unless the current Chinese owner divests before then.
“Lawmakers and the Biden administration argue that as long as TikTok is owned by a Chinese company, it is beholden to the dictates of China’s authoritarian regime,” NPR reported at the time.
If and when the TikTok ban takes effect, it would prevent app stores like Google Play or Apple’s App Store from allowing new downloads of TikTok.
Additionally, it would keep current TikTok users from accessing software updates, although they’d be able to continue using whatever version of the app was on their phone before the ban was in place.
“Internet service providers will also be required to make the app inaccessible on U.S. internet browsers,” according to USA Today.
These changes would keep TikTok from growing in the U.S. and increase the likelihood that current TikTok users would refocus their energies on a different video app.
Can Trump save TikTok?
Although the Jan. 19 deadline for a TikTok sale is quickly approaching, TikTok hasn’t given up hope on blocking the ban.
On Monday, attorneys for the app appealed to the Supreme Court, which has the power to overturn the TikTok ban — or at least put it on hold.
The justices likely won’t have time to hear arguments before Jan. 19, but they could choose to take up the case and issue an emergency order putting the ban on hold until they weigh in on the battle.
Of course, they could also decline to hear the case, which would leave the D.C. Circuit’s ruling against TikTok in place.
The app’s leaders have also sought help from Trump, who on Monday said that he has “a warm spot” for TikTok, according to NBC.
Soon after making that comment, Trump met with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew to discuss the app’s future in the U.S., the article said.
It’s unclear what Trump could actually do to save TikTok before Jan. 19. Even after that deadline, he will have limited power to interfere with the federal ban, as the Deseret News previously reported.
As it stands, Biden has more power to issue a reprieve. The law gives him the authority to extend the deadline for a sale if he feels like TikTok is close to that solution.