After yearly fears of a potential ban, it seems TikTok may really be gone for good on Sunday, January 19th. In April of 2024, a bill was signed by President Biden stating that TikTok would be removed from all digital distribution platforms on phones across the U.S., unless TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, sold the app to an American company. Despite this resolute bill, a lot has played out in the past 9 months in an effort to save it.
On Friday, January 10, the Supreme Court agreed to hear TikTok’s oral arguments against the ban. TikTok came with a lawyer representing the app itself as well as a lawyer representing creators on the app that rely on it for financial reasons. They argued that this ban would be a breach of the First Amendment right to freedom of speech, as well as affect many people who use TikTok to promote their businesses or make their income. Unfortunately, as of Thursday, January 16th, the Court has yet to release their opinions or decisions on the matter one way or another. This means that the January 19th ban is still currently in place.
An attorney announced to the Supreme Court that TikTok plans to “go dark” or completely stop functioning on any device in the United States on the 19th if the ban is upheld. While the legal proceedings go on, the community on TikTok has been frantically searching for a new app to migrate to. While the future of TikTok is still unknown, the date that will let us know is rapidly approaching.