TikTok and its Chinese parent company are asking the United States government to take a closer look at legislation that could ban the social media platform in the states.
On Monday, TikTok and parent company ByteDance filed an emergency injunction, asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review legislation that would ban the social media app if ByteDance does not sell the platform by Jan. 19, 2025. The injunction follows a vote by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Friday that supported the legislation.
Under the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, signed by President Joe Biden this spring, TikTok will become illegal for distribution in the U.S., if ByteDance does not sell the platform. The app will be illegal for distribution through the Apple App Store and Google Play and internet service providers will be required to make the app inaccessible on U.S. internet browsers.
Users who have TikTok on their devices would still be able to use the app, but banning TikTok from app stores would prohibit future software updates. If ByteDance sells TikTok before Jan. 19, the platform will remain available in the states.
"Before that happens, the Supreme Court should have an opportunity, as the only court with appellate jurisdiction over this action, to decide whether to review this exceptionally important case," the injunction filing states. "And an injunction is especially appropriate because it will give the incoming administration time to determine its position, which could moot both the impending harms and the need for Supreme Court review."
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TikTok is a social media application known for its short-form videos. Users can create, post and interact with videos on the app. TikTok is popular for its scrolling algorithm and allows users to post videos between three seconds and 10 minutes long. Users may add different filters, backgrounds, music and stickers to their videos.
In the wake of Friday's news, TikTok content creators are wasting no time advising followers to find them on other platforms, as the social media app's future remains murky.
Chris Burkett, host of relationship podcast, "2 Be Better," had more than 1.3 million TikTok users as of Monday. In a video posted over the weekend, Burkett expressed his lack of faith in the future of the platform.
"I don't think there's longevity on this app in the United States," Burkett said in his video. "I think it's on their radar. I do believe the app will be gone. It may not be in January. It may be later next year. It could be a year after that, but we will be losing TikTok." At the end of the video, Burkett encourages users to follow the podcast on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, X and Threads.
Content creator Andra Berghoff took to the app to discuss the ban's potential effects on the 170 million recurring TikTok users in the U.S.
"When they ban it, every single person in the United States is going to feel its effects," Berghoff said in her video, citing a report from Oxford Economics.
The report found that in 2023, small- and medium-sized businesses contributed about $24.2 billion to the U.S. economy through TikTok, such as paid advertising. Additionally, about 40% of small businesses said TikTok was "critical" to their existence.
"You were here when I originally went viral because I quit my horrible job and I was panicked because I didn't know what to do for rent," Berghoff said in her video. "And then I went viral and realized I could actually rely on this app to make a good $2,000-4,000 to cover my rent every month. And then beyond that, I was able to use this platform to get my dream job working and reporting actual news sometimes. I got the opportunity to travel the country and do what I love all because of right here and now that's all being stripped away from me again."
TikTok has been a national security concern among government officials for several years. Officials are worried ByteDance, which is based in Beijing, has access to American data and is sharing it with Chinese government surveillance.
In 2019, former president and now President-elect Donald Trump issued a national emergency upon finding that "foreign adversaries," in this case ByteDance, were "exploiting vulnerabilities in information and communications technology and services," the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit opinion states. As a part of his response, Trump prohibited any transactions with the company.
In 2021, Biden issued a new executive order regarding ByteDance, which said that the company "continues to threaten the national security, foreign policy and economy of the United States," the federal appeals court opinion states. In 2022, Biden signed a bill that prohibited the use of TikTok on government devices.
Amidst the national security allegations, TikTok and ByteDance have denied the claims. During arguments made against the ban to the federal appeals court earlier this year, TikTok's outside lawyer Andrew Pincus addressed the ban's potential effects, per previous USA TODAY reporting.
"The law before this court is unprecedented, and its effect would be staggering," Pincus said. "For the first time in history, Congress has expressly targeted a specific U.S. speaker, banning its speech and the speech of 170 million Americans."
Over the past few months and in its petitions to the federal appeals court, ByteDance has claimed that selling the platform is "not possible," commercially, technologically or legally.
In its opinion, the federal appeals court stated that it understands the ban on the social media app would have "significant implications" for the platform and its users.
"Unless TikTok executes a qualified divestiture by January 19, 2025 ... its platform will effectively be unavailable in the United States, at least for a time," the opinion states.
Greta Cross is a national trending reporter at USA TODAY. Follow her on X and Instagram @gretalcross. Story idea? Email her at [email protected].
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