Biden signed a law banning the app in January – if parent firm ByteDance fails to block it, here’s what could happen

The US supreme court will hear arguments on Friday from TikTok and its China-based owner ByteDance, which is seeking to block a law signed by Joe Biden that will ban the short-form video app beginning on 19 January unless it is divested from ByteDance. TikTok has said divestment is “not possible technologically, commercially, or legally” and requested an injunction to pause the ban during the legal process.

More than 170m Americans use TikTok. Lawyers for the company contend that banning the app violates the first amendment rights of those tens of millions of users; the argument did not sway a federal appeals court, which upheld the ban-or-sale bill in December. Congress passed the legislation with a bipartisan majority in April. US legislators fear that China will spread propaganda through the app, though they have produced no documentation of such manipulation. Donald Trump, who first championed banning the app in 2020, now opposes it after finding a large audience there during the presidential election. He has filed a brief on TikTok’s behalf to stay the ban until he takes office on 20 January.